CoStar Group has officially secured its acquisition of Domain Holdings Australia through a binding scheme implementation deed, valuing the Australian property portal at approximately A$2.8 billion (US$1.9 billion).
The all-cash transaction, offering A$4.43 per share to Domain shareholders, marks the culmination of a three-month courtship that began with CoStar’s strategic accumulation of a 16.9% stake in February and represents a substantial 42% premium over Domain’s pre-approach trading price.
“This acquisition establishes CoStar as a genuine global player in residential property portals across three continents,” said an industry analyst who has followed CoStar’s expansion strategy. “It’s no longer just a commercial real estate data company – this completes its transformation into a full-spectrum property marketplace operator.”
The acquisition represents CoStar’s most significant international expansion yet, building upon its 2023 purchase of UK-based OnTheMarket for US$198 million and securing an immediate foothold in one of the world’s most profitable property advertising markets.
Australia’s property portal ecosystem commands an estimated 55% take-rate of the country’s annual A$7 billion property marketing expenditure – widely considered the highest globally. Domain alone generated A$217 million in revenue during the first half of fiscal year 2025, representing a 7.4% year-over-year increase despite relatively flat property listing volumes.
Central to CoStar’s value creation thesis is the integration of Matterport’s immersive 3D scanning technology into Domain’s premium listing tiers. This integration potentially mirrors CoStar’s successful “feature-gate then price-hike” model deployed at Homes.com in the United States.
As the transaction proceeds toward regulatory review and shareholder votes, one certainty emerges: Australia’s property technology landscape has been permanently reshaped, with ripple effects extending across global real estate, media ownership, and digital platform regulation.
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