The rural property website Farmbuy racked up a record 184,000 visitors last month.
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It's a pretty impressive milestone when you consider they were the "genuine" online statistic of a unique browser, or individual.
To put it another way, in just one month the website was visited by an audience bigger than the population of Cairns.
That number of users was up almost a third on the month before.
Visitors to Farmbuy, which was acquired by Australian Commmunity Media about six months ago, spiked during the pandemic as many people trawled the internet looking for a country escape from lockdowns.
Agents say it is trouble-free online platform for those looking for their dream home, or dream farm, than those of other sites with all sorts or added information like rental lists or livestock sales.
April's record rush of visitors was no surprise to Farmbuy founder Keith Falconer who had watched the website traffic build quickly in the past six months.
But with a softening rural real estate market, as he puts it, it is probably expected people would be looking more carefully at opportunities rather than rushing in.
He put the website's upsurge in popularity down to increased exposure from ACM's agricultural titles around the nation, known collectively as ACM Agri.
"Demand is softening out there but prices being paid for rural land are still very, very good," Mr Falconer said.
"Our agents tell us people like Farmbuy because it has a simpler search focus and a much better focus on rural properties."
While Farmbuy.com's renowned ability to attract online users through its canny online magnetism or SEO is still a winner, it's "spread" of properties is changing.
Once the first port of call for tree-changers, the audience now includes farmers looking for bigger acreage.
Company director of western Victorian real estate and livestock agency Charles Stewart, Anthony McDonald, says his business has enjoyed a long association with Farmbuy.
"Charles Stewart partnered with Farmbuy since the very early days of the rural focused website, more than 12 years ago," Mr McDonald said.
"As the leading rural property sales agency in western Victoria, Charles Stewart have always believed it is important to promote our clients properties on a dedicated rural oriented website.
"We have found that many buyers prefer to search for property on a site that has a more nuanced feel for what farm and rural land buyers need," he said.
"There is no doubt that Farmbuy drives a higher level of buyers to our rural properties, than relying on the general portal sites.
"We find that the buyer inquiry that we receive via Farmbuy is more qualified and genuine than other inquiry, and more often results in great sales outcomes."
Charles Stewart has offices in Camperdown, Geelong, Ballarat, Warrnambool and Hamilton.
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Chris McLennan
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
ACM national rural property writer based in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. Career journalist. Multi award winner.
