REA Group

Financial Context

Illustrative wage differential: if the 577+ reported offshore roles were instead employed in Australia at average local rates, the additional cost could be in the order of ~$49M/yr (~7.5% of reported net profit). This is an estimate based on industry averages, not company-specific data.

Would this company be profitable without offshoring?

Every dollar paid offshore leaves the Australian economy, reducing local wages, tax receipts, and economic circulation. Why it matters

Financial data: FY2024. Estimate uses avg AU employment cost of $110,000+/yr (incl. super and on-costs) vs offshore $25,000/yr (salary + on-costs). Actual figures vary by role, seniority, and location.

In Plain English

• In 2025, REA Group was reported to have 577+ offshore contractors and staff.
• This represents ~16.9% when compared to its current workforce of 3,418 (illustrative comparison only, not directly reported by the company).
• 🇵🇭 260+ staff reported in Philippines in Call Centre.
• 🇨🇳 175+ staff reported in China in IT.
• 🇮🇳 142+ staff reported in India in Engineering.
• Known outsourcing partners include Thoughtworks.
• 75 Australian jobs have been cut, with all occurring during periods of offshore expansion.

Based on data from public sources at the dates reported. Figures may not reflect current headcount. See sources below for full attribution.

The Story

• Correction, October 2026This page previously stated as fact that REA cut approximately 15% of its 500+ Melbourne developers. That 15% was one person's estimate reported by the AFR. REA's own figure was a “limited number of redundancies” affecting less than 4% of its technology team. Both numbers are now shown, because they have never been reconciled. [Offshore Watch correction]
• July 2025REA Group confirmed redundancies in its technology team as it moved development work to India. The company said the restructure caused a “limited number of redundancies” affecting less than 4% of its technology team, while one person cited by the AFR suggested up to 15% of tech jobs could go. This site previously published the 15% figure as fact; the 4% is REA's own number and the two have not been reconciled. A spokesman said “our development team in REA India is an extension of our team in Australia”, and that the changes were meant to create better career paths, with promotions and redeployment alongside the redundancies. It was REA's first meaningful redundancy round since 2019. [Mumbrella]
• July 2025REA chairman Hamish McLennan also chairs ARN Media, which had announced similar cuts with jobs moved to India two months earlier. Reporting tied the move to low morale amid a chief executive search and the pending CoStar takeover of rival Domain. [Mumbrella]
• 2015-2025REA's share price grew over 400% in 10 years, making it one of the best-performing stocks on the ASX. [Google Finance]
• Mid-2025The Gurugram centre had grown to 70 REA employees and 30 from Thoughtworks, with plans to onboard 100 more in the coming year. [Forrester]
• October 2024REA opened a Global Capability Centre (GCC) in Gurugram, India. CTO Steve Maidment said India headcount would grow to "10% of its global workforce in the next two years". [Economic Times]
• 2022REA had "over 500 developers across 60 teams". [AFR]

All facts sourced from public reporting. No editorial commentary. Click source links to verify.