Hemnet Q3 Interim Report: Continued ARPL Growth For Swedish #1

Swedish real estate portal operator Hemnet has released its results for Q3 of the 2023 financial year. Highlights of the Stockholm Nasdaq-listed company's performance for the period include:

• Net sales increased by 13.9% to SEK 272M ($244M)— up from SEK 238.9M
• EBITDA increased 21.4% to SEK 156M ($146M) — up from SEK 128.5M
• Operating profit increased 23.4% to SEK 136.9M ($122.9M) — up from SEK 110.9M
• Average revenue per published listing increased 27.9% to SEK 4,353 ($390) — up from SEK 3,404

Net sales of SEK 272M—up 13.9% from Q2—represent a 6% YoY growth despite a slower market, with listings down 4% YoY.

Meanwhile, Hemnet's average revenue per listing has grown significantly in the past three years—indeed, it has more than doubled in that period to over 4,000 krona—which makes Hemnet one of the leading benchmarks for any agent looking to unlock revenue opportunities from listings.

Hemnet's strong focus on product development means CEO Cecilia Beck-Friis' comments make particularly interesting reading.

She said:

"Hemnet's results for the third quarter proves our strong business model and that our investments in product development are paying off.

"The stabilisation of listing volumes, coupled with a growing demand for value-added services, has resulted in an increase in revenue from property sellers by 23.5 percent and in ARPL by 27.9 percent. Hemnet Premium has been a particularly strong driver of ARPL, with revenue almost doubling from last year.

"We have continued to introduce new features and products that enhance the value of Hemnet for our users, partners and customers. Among the many user features we have released this year, we have seen a 50 percent surge in traffic to sold properties where we have added photos. This richer content enables our users to better research the market.

"We have also recently launched the ability for property sellers to pay for the Hemnet listing when it is removed, providing additional flexibility that is valued by sellers as well as agents. Moreover, the new ‘sticky bar’ that displays the agent’s contact information within the listing has resulted in a 150 percent increase in contacts to agents directly from Hemnet since we launched the feature in Q2.

"We have just commenced selling a new agent advertising product, “Sold by Us”, that enables agents to demonstrate success in their local area and help them convince potential sellers to choose them.

For a closer look at revenues by customer segment, see the below image from Hemnet's interim report:

Source: Hemnet Q3 2023 Interim Report

Hemnet is by far and away Sweden's number one real estate company, with the company claiming it sells 90% of properties in Sweden via its portal earlier this year.