Media Release

18 January 2018

REA Group launches realestate.com.au News -

First voice powered Australian property news report for Amazon Alexa

Australians can now get a flash briefing of the latest property news headlines at home while going about their day by simply asking Alexa, the cloud-based voice service from Amazon.

REA Group, parent company of realestate.com.au, today launched realestate.com.au News, the first property news report for Amazon Alexa, giving people a new way to consume property-related news.

realestate.com.au News uses Amazon's voice recognition technology to provide a flash briefing of daily property news, curated from more than 1200 articles published onrealestate.com.au/news each month and leveraging a network of more than 45 journalists nationally. It is currently the only skill that provides exclusive property news for smart home devices in Australia.

This latest innovation from REA Group is the company's first move into voice technology and artificial intelligence, showcasing the Group's commitment to working with new and emerging technologies which change the way people experience property.

Nigel Dalton, REA Group Chief Inventor, commented: "It's still early days for having conversations with your technology, but we're continuing to discover new ways to adapt and integrate that into our daily lives. We've started with voice-powered news content to see how consumers respond, and will be using these insights to create an even more immersive AI experience.

"Today, home devices use a simple command system, but the technology of tomorrow will be smarter and more intelligent. Eventually voice is going to be integrated into every piece of technology hardware we own, and we'll be continuing to add more artificial intelligence into our product experiences to help users through their property journey.

"One day, Alexa will be consulted as if she were just another family member at the dinner table - in the same way forward-thinking companies are starting to add AI company directors. Chances are in five years' time, she could be the smartest 'person' in the room," said Mr Dalton.

Elizabeth Minogue, REA Group Executive General Manager - Media, commented: "Over the last few years, we've seen a dramatic shift in the way people consume news, whether that's a move from print to digital, desktop to mobile, written content to video, and now to voice conversations and artificial intelligence."

"People are property obsessed and we're continuing to see increased traffic on our sites for news, guides and lifestyle content, with growth of 47% year-on-year1. It's great to now offer a new way for people to consume our content in a fun and informative way via a smart home device," Ms Minogue said.

realestate.com.au News is available on all Amazon Echo devices in Australia from 1 February 2018.

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For more information:

Lucy Murray, Communications & Corporate Affairs Advisorlucy.murray@rea-group.com

Mob: +61 411 251 933

1 Source: REA Group internal data, visits to 'News, Lifestyle and Guides' on realestate.com.au between July - December 2017 compared to July - December 2016, excluding apps

About REA Group Limited:(www.rea-group.com): REA Group Limited ACN 068 349 066 (ASX:REA) ("REA Group") is a multinational digital advertising business specialising in property. REA operates Australia's leading residential and commercial property websites, realestate.com.au and realcommercial.com.au, spacely.com.au, flatmates.com.au, Chinese property site myfun.com and a number of property portals in Asia via its ownership of iProperty Group. REA also owns Smartline Home Loans Pty Ltd, an Australian mortgage broking franchise group and holds a significant shareholding in property websites Move, Inc. in the US and PropTiger, Makaan.com and Housing.com in India.

REA Group Limited published this content on 18 January 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 17 January 2018 22:09:02 UTC.

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