A new product has hit the market that could see property investors across Australia able to get detailed comparative information about suburbs before they buy.
Residz, a project from geographical analysis firm Mapcite, can give background details on any address in Australia, ranging from house prices and demographic information on the suburb to bushfire risk, local amenities and school catchments.
“We sit between general informational websites that talk about the local community and the transactional websites like REA and Domain,” said Steve Walker, head of sales at Residz.
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“We’re in the middle, and we try to cover the whole spectrum of factual, transactional information and what properties are for sale, and more importantly, within a few clicks of an address, we want to give people more perspective on the lifestyle and risks around the home.”
“It’s about the quick access to relevant information about lifestyle. Covid has accentuated that because people are now choosing homes where they don’t have to be near where they are employed.”
“Suddenly, lifestyle has become a much bigger consideration than convenience for work and people are thinking much more deeply about those factors.”
The USP of Residz is that it puts all the information that is publicly available into one easily digestible report. That then can empower the investor or rentvestor to buy with confidence without having to see the property, which can be a massive advantage when buying in regional Australia or interstate.
“People can find most of this information, because it’s all over the web, but you really have to dig deep to get to it,” said Walker.
“Some of it is our proprietary information, such as the house’s bushfire risk, which is our own algorithms and data points based on surrounding vegetation, roof angles and materials, age of home and nearness of other homes.”
“People can look at comparative suburbs and properties based on demographic profile and local facilities. These might be suburbs that they’ve never previously considered, especially with the drift to the regions.”
“How often have Sydney buyers realistically looked at suburbs in Dubbo, Bathurst or Orange? It gives them the ability to do a comparative analysis.”
“You can print out a report on an address in a suburb, then pick another address in a different suburb that seems to have similar demographic characteristics, then put the reports side by side and assess similar lifestyle environments and homes.”
“That gives them another opportunity in another suburb to buy.”
