Rentwolf Contributing to the Australian Rental Revolution

Online rental marketplaces- where would-be tenants go head to head with offers for properties- are becoming inevitable reality for Australian renters, with the upcoming launch of two Aussie-specific apps.

Live Offer, by US-based rental estate the company Property Connect, and Australian start up Rentwolf will both roll out platforms in coming months to Australia.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Australia’s two largest rental markets, Sydney and Melbourne, are already competitive and expensive, with Domain Groups data showing Sydney’ median asking house rent increased $25 a week to $550 in the 12 months to March, while Melbourne’s median weekly house rents rose $20 to $420.
• Landlord insurance specialists have also spoken out since Rentberry’s announcement, raising concerns renters will financially over-commit themselves in the process of a “rent auction”.
• Live Offer, says the site will create a much fairer market value rent than its US rival.
• Australian-owned RentWolf has also announced its launch in Sydney in May, and is described by founder and chief executive Chris Martino as a “revolutionary” automated rental marketplace.

Mr Manson, who is quick to distinguish Live Offer as “not a bidding system but an offer system”, began working on the idea as a property manager in Sydney about ten years ago, after receiving phone calls from upset tenants who had missed out on properties.

“They were saying either, ‘we would have paid more, we would have stayed longer, we would have moved in sooner’ – it was just not very transparent,” he said. “Currently, you put an application in and you hope for a call back, but that process is just so outdated and unwarranted with technology because now we have the ability to offer up much more visibility and much more information for the renter.”

Live Offer will allow a renter to come through from a listing site, onto a platform where they can input their preferred rent amount and other desired lease terms, such as how long the lease will be and when they can move in. A property manager inputs the landlord’s preferred rent (although not a reserve rent) and preferred lease terms, and a back-end algorithm ranks the best offers. The algorithm also takes into account a renter’s creditability, including their credit history.

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