Hemnet Continues to Enjoy Life as a Public Company Posting Strong Q2 Figures

Leading Swedish property portal Hemnet has released its second set of quarterly results since making its debut as a public company in April. Highlights of Hemnet's Q2 results include:

• Net sales up 47% year-on-year to SEK 212 million ($24 million)
• Operating profit increased by 108% to SEK 62.9 ($7.1 million) from pandemic lows of SEK 30.2 million
• 18.8% growth in listings volumes.

Despite favourable quarterly comparables, the results represent a sizeable step up in financial performance for the Stockholm based firm which saw costs related to its debut on the local Nasdaq exchange impact its Q1 figures.

The quarter from April to June saw Hemnet reap the rewards for a new pricing structure with increased segmentation as well as increased compensation for agents recommending Hemnet's products to vendors (the Swedish housing market is similar to Australia's in that the vendor pays portal listing fees rather than the agent).

Also significant for Hemnet is an Adjusted EBITDA margin of over 50% (52%), a figure up from 40% in Q1 and notably higher than Q2 of 2020's figure of 37%. The increase was largely attributed to gains in average revenue per listing which thanks to the new pricing structure grew by almost a third according to Hemnet CEO Cecilia Beck-Friis.

"The growth in ARPL in this quarter has also benefitted from a rebound in the property market compared to the second quarter of 2020, which was the quarter most negatively affected by the onset of the pandemic. Published listings on Hemnet increased by 18.8 percent in the quarter compared to last year, resulting in volumes for the first six months increasing by 7.1 percent."

"Looking ahead we expect net sales in the third quarter to show a year-on-year increase that is above the upper end of the Group’s financial target range of 15-20 percent, but to clearly moderate from the second quarter, which benefitted from favourable comparables."

It's not only Hemnet that seems to have benefitted from a period of intense activity and price rises in its local housing market. The second quarter of 2021 seems to have been a bumper period for real estate portal companies around the world with fellow market leaders such as Zillow and Rightmove reporting record numbers.