REA Group's (ASX:REA) undertaking with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to resolve concerns over its subscription offerings will have only a benign impact on the company's earnings, Jefferies said in a Monday note.
"Positively, there is no price regulation from the ACCC and the announcement today removes any overhang on the stock," the investment firm said.
As part of the agreement with the regulator, agencies covered by premium depth contracts must be given the flexibility to downgrade at least 25% of their listings to lower tiers from January 2027. However, Jefferies believes the extent of downgrades will probably be very limited given the value REA delivers to agents and vendors.
"As long as REA can demonstrate that it is delivering the highest number and quality of leads, it would be able to command a premium price and encourage vendors (through agents) to take up depth listings and potentially add-on products like Luxe and Audience Maximiser," the equity research firm said.
Additionally, REA can no longer require agencies to list all or the majority of their properties on realestate.com.au. But this element of the undertaking relates to subscriptions and not the depth contracts, so it will likely have no impact on the company's listings volume, Jefferies added.
The investment firm has a buy rating on REA Group with a price target of AU$195.