REA Group, the company in charge of leading property portal realestate.com.au, has posted a 20 per cent full-year profit increase due to strong revenue growth in the Australian and Asian markets.

The ASX-listed company, which is majority-owned by News Corp, reported a 21 per cent uplift in revenue to $671 million over the 12 months to 30 June.

The group’s Australian revenue rose 17 per cent to $555.2 million during the 12-month period, while REA’s acquisition of real estate portal iProperty in February saw its revenue in Asia grow by $4.5 million to $23.9 million.

And it is the success of News Corp’s real estate businesses – REA, iProperty and Move (US) – that is tipped to drive future earnings for the media giant, according to CEO Robert Thomson.

Since News Corp split from 21 Century Fox in 2013, Thomson told shareholders that revenue in digital real estate services “has more than doubled, and is expected to become the biggest contributor to EBITDA in the future thanks to the ongoing success of REA and the rapid growth at Realtor.com® in the US”.

“Our reach in digital real estate is unparalleled and highlights the potential of the News Corp network, which is monetising shared data and maximising the value of content and traffic,” he said.

Released today, News Corp’s full-year results revealed that digital real estate services was the only segment to achieve revenue growth – up 32 per cent to $US822 million – while revenue in its news business dropped 7 per cent to US$5.3 billion.

Overall, News Corp recovered from a $US147 million loss in FY15 to post a $US179 million ($234.5 million) profit over the 12 months to 30 June, while advertising revenue fell 5 per cent to US$3.8 billion.

Mr Thomson said that while global print ad trends remain challenging for the group’s news business, News Corp is continuing its aggressive growth in digital, “which now accounts for 23 per cent of the segment’s revenues – up from 19 per cent last year.”