The latest Ipsos Iris data has revealed that 12.9 million people have been reading about homes and property in October, up 2.9 per cent on September.
Major global and local news events including the Voice referendum, the NRL Grand Final wrapping up the footy season, the Hamas attack on Israel, the untimely deaths of Friends star Matthew Perry and comedian Cal Wilson and the murder of a young coach at St Andrew’s School in Sydney, saw consumption of online news content reach 20.3 million for the month of October.
The News category includes audience and time spent online on both general news and broader news content including weather, sport, lifestyle, entertainment and business news.
News.com.au remained Australia’s most-read source of news, with 21.1 million users in October — the same as September. ABC News saw an 11 per cent bump in its audience from September to 11.8 million, while Nine.com.au and Dail Mail Australia, had 10.6 million and 9.6 million users respectively.
The Age, meanwhile, recorded a 10.2 per cent drop in users to 4.1 million compared to September.
In the Homes and Property category, the property search subcategory rose by 3.4 per cent in October as the Spring buying and selling season moved into full swing, with more than 12.3 million Australians using a property search website or app last month.
Almost all (98 per cent) of the property search sub-category audience is looking at residential property, evidence that the housing bubble in Australia is showing no sign of bursting despite interest rate rises. Women were more likely to be using residential property search websites and apps in October and spent almost twice as much time per month searching than men, spending over an hour a month on average.
People aged 25 and over were more likely to be using residential property search websites and apps, with those aged 65 and overspending the most time. The over 65s were also more likely to be using commercial property search sites and apps, with Boomers looking at their existing and new property investments in the residential and commercial sectors.
