The great Australian dream: close to 14 million Australians used a home and property website or app in July, as people start to plan their next real estate move – Ipsos iris data

21.16 million people used a News website or app in July, reaching 95.6% of online Australians

22 August 2025 – Australians have responded to the year’s reductions in interest rates and softening cost-of-living pressures to start planning their next real estate move, with nearly 14 million Australians using a home and property website or app in July, new Ipsos iris data has revealed.

Last month, 13.9 million, or 63%, of Australians aged over 14 used a home and property website or app, spending an average of 44 minutes a month, researching both private and commercial property.

The data reveals home and property content was most popular with women – who were 10% more likely to consume home and property content, and particularly women aged over 55, who were 22% more likely than men of the same age group to visit these websites and apps.

Bomb cyclone, the ‘Mushroom Murders’ trial and celebrity deaths drive News websites and apps usage

A raft of trending Australian and global news events resulted in 21.16 million people, or 95.6% of online Australians aged 14+, using a news website or app during July, which was slightly up on the June data.

Australians spent nearly five hours (4.9 hours) consuming news content online during July, which was slightly down on the same time last year, when people were spending around 5.2 hours consuming news online.

Trending Australian news stories included the Melbourne childcare worker abuse scandal, the guilty verdict in the Erin Patterson “mushroom murder” trial and the subsequent stories about her life in prison, the search and successful rescue of missing German backpacker Carolina Wilga, the death of Australian actor Julian McMahon, the “bomb cyclone” event that lashed the NSW coast, and the deciding match of the 2025 NRL State of Origin series.

In global news, the “CEO kiss cam” scandal, where a tech company CEO and chief HR officer were allegedly caught in an affair on a “kiss cam” during a Coldplay concert in Boston dominated headlines, along with the Russian earthquake and Pacific tsunami warning, the deaths of Liverpool footballer Dioga Jota and Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne, the Air India crash investigation, and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial verdict.

Energy suppliers, events and health grow online audiences in July

Categories with the highest month-on-month growth in July were energy suppliers/utilities (+4.16%), events and attractions (+2.06%), and health (+1.8%), with most other categories remaining stable or showing a modest decline, compared to the peak audiences recorded in June.

Categories with the largest year-on-year increases in online audiences were automotive (+5.3%), energy suppliers/utilities (+4.2%), health, and entertainment (both +3.4%).

Ipsos iris, Australia’s digital audience measurement currency endorsed by IAB Australia, showed that 22.127 million Australians used the internet in July.

Australians aged 14+ spent an average of 4.8 hours per day online in July, which was up 4.3% compared to the same time last year.

The most consumed website and app categories in July were social networking (22 million), search (21.99 million), technology (21.9 million), and retail and commerce, and entertainment (both 21.7 million).

Ipsos iris, which officially launched in March 2023, provides accurate data about the 22.1 million Australians aged 14+ who access a wide variety of digital content and services across smartphone, PC/laptop and tablet devices.

Notes for editors:

• Ipsos iris is an independent source of truth for the media industry providing a level playing field for comparison of audience reach and characteristics and supporting the $16.4 billion Australian online advertising market (Source; IAB Australia Internet Advertising Revenue Report prepared by PWC CY24)
• Ipsos iris provides accuracy in solving cross-device deduplication, the biggest challenge in measuring online audiences, using a single-source multi-device panel measuring activity on 8,000 smartphone, PC, laptop and tablet devices
• Ipsos iris provides accurate data about the number of people who visit the content of digital publishers and platforms, along with the frequency of visits and time spent by tracking digital audience behaviour across desktop/laptop, smartphone, and tablets.  It uses a hybrid methodology that combines metered data from a high quality, nationally representative, single-source passive panel with site-centric census measurement via media owner tagging.
• In February 2024, the CTV audience currency integration from a data partnership with OzTAM launched, providing total unduplicated digital audience currency data for BVOD across CTV, smartphones, tablets, and computers.
• In August 2024, enriched YouTube audience reach and watch time data for Connected TV across mobile, desktop and tablets was integrated into Ipsos iris, in collaboration with Google and IAB Australia.
• Ipsos iris is fully privacy compliant and cross-media ready and will continue to evolve with a roadmap of enhancements over 2024 and beyond. It will also be adaptable to changing requirements as the industry develops in future years.
• The launch of Ipsos iris with monthly data from January 2023 was the culmination of extensive work by the IAB and its Measurement Council that commenced in early 2021 with a strategic review of industry requirements. Ipsos was awarded the IAB’s endorsement, having best met the standards on criteria across all areas of product along with criteria for operations and a future roadmap. 
• Further information can be found at: https://iris-au.ipsos.com/