Revenue leaps at Domain’s mortgage broking business

The property listings platform posted its results for the first half of the 2022 financial year on Thursday (17 February), revealing a net profit after tax of $26.1 million, up 34.2 per cent year-on-year.

However, the group had decided to repay its JobKeeper grant, which contributed to an additional expense over the half of $7.5 million.

Revenue came to $176.2 million, rising by 27.9 per cent from the year before.

The consumer solutions division, which includes mortgage broking arm Domain Home Loans, had contributed $4.6 million in revenue, 60.4 per cent more year-on-year.

Domain Home Loans had driven the growth, with its parent company reporting it had seen a 76 per cent surge in settlements year-on-year.

The average loan size lodged through Domain Home Loans had also stepped up by 6.5 per cent year-on-year during the half.

Domain chief executive and managing director Jason Pellegrino pointed to the division’s new management team, when reflecting on its growth.

In July last year, Domain had hired former BrickX boss Kareene Koh, to be its general manager and CEO of Domain Home Loans.

“Over the past two years [Domain Home Loans] has seen a 25 per cent uplift in conversion to approval, demonstrating the increased efficiency of the business,” Mr Pellegrino said.

The company is considering ways to scale the business, he added.

“In August I spoke about our expectation that Domain Home Loans’ future performance would accelerate, with the benefits of improving conversion metrics and a new management team. It’s great to see that acceleration being delivered in the first half result,” Mr Pellegrino said.

The residential business was the primary contributor for revenue, producing $120.3 million during the half-year, up 29 per cent year-on-year.

Media, developers and commercial saw its revenue rise by 15 per cent, up to $25.4 million.

Revenue from agent solutions was up by 19 per cent, to $7.4 million.

The property data solutions segment produced a revenue of $6.5 million, up 21 per cent, following the acquisition of Insight Data Solutions.

Meanwhile print revenues soared by 75 per cent year-on-year, reflecting the resumption of the normal publishing schedule as well as strong market conditions, Mr Pellegrino said.

[Related: Property spending more than doubled in 2021]