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Steven Cross
A 15-year-old weekly listings newspaper run by real estate agents in Western Australia has stopped printing, although its owners are yet to decide whether the publication will retain some form of online presence.
realestateWA was started in 1997 by a group of Western Australian real estate agents who came together to create what they termed a cost-effective advertising medium owned and controlled by agents.
According to the realestateWA website, the newspaper's distribution was more than 92,000, with a particular focus on listings in north Perth.
The company said it strived to provide competition within the market to avoid multinational companies monopolising the real estate media landscape in WA.
Steve Harber, one of the directors of the newspaper, confirmed what was originally reported by www.business2.com.au in December that the newspaper has stopped.
“We have ceased the publication of the papers at this point in time,” he told Real Estate Business.
As well as a weekly publication, realestateWA also has an online presence, which Mr Harber couldn’t guarantee would be continuing.
“We’re not 100 per cent sure about the website at this point in time; we haven’t actually called a shareholder meeting yet," he said. "All those decisions will be decided by the shareholders.”
Graeme Baxter, managing director of ACTON Real Estate, said the newspaper targeted a fairly niche market in the northern corridor of Perth.
“It will affect probably two of our offices, they will have to rethink their print advertising marketing. But it really won’t have an overbearing effect on the rest of the Perth market,” he told Real Estate Business.
“I’m not too worried about other papers increasing their advertising rates either. As I said, it was a fairly niche newspaper, so it would be very brave of The Sunday Times to increase their rates.”
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