The latest data from Ipsos Iris shows Australians' online property obsession continues to grow, with 12.9 million people reading about homes and property online in October, marking a 2.9% increase from the previous month. The rise in property interest coincides with a rise in online news content consumption, which reached 20.3 million in October, driven by major global and local news events.

The property search subcategory within the Homes and Property category saw a 3.4% increase in October, with over 12.3 million Australians utilising a property search website or app. The focus for 98% of this audience was on residential property, with women spending almost twice as much time per month searching than men.

The data also shows that Australians aged 25 and over were more likely to use residential property search websites and apps, with those aged 65 and over spending the most time. Overall, Australians aged 14+ spent more time online in October, averaging 3.8 hours or 119 hours per month, a 3.3% increase from September.

The most consumed website and app categories in October were social networking (21 million), followed by search engines (20.9 million), technology (20.9 million), retail and commerce (20.8 million), and entertainment (20.7 million). The fastest growing category in October was Games, up 4.2% from September, followed by Homes and Property (2.9%) and Health (2.5%).

Ipsos iris, launched in March 2023, provides data about the 21 million Australians aged 14+ who access digital content and services across various devices. As an independent source for the media industry, it supports the $14.2 billion Australian online advertising market. Its hybrid methodology combines metered data from a nationally representative, single-source passive panel with site-centric census measurement via media owner tagging.

Later this year, a data partnership with OzTAM will provide total unduplicated digital audience currency data for CTV, smartphones, tablets, and computers.