Real estate is one of the most competitive verticals on Google Ads in Australia, and one of the most rewarding when the campaign is built correctly. A click on “houses for sale Sydney” costs $4–8 AUD. A click on “buy apartment Melbourne CBD” costs $5–10 AUD. Domain.com.au and realestate.com.au dominate organic search, which means Google Ads is the most realistic way for individual agencies and developers to compete for high-intent buyers without spending years on SEO.
Why real estate is different on Google Ads
The core challenge in real estate Google Ads is the mismatch between search volume and buyer readiness. Someone searching “property for sale Brisbane” might be idly curious, researching the market for a purchase three years away, or ready to make an offer this week. The CPC is nearly identical in all three cases, but the value of each click is radically different.
This forces the campaign structure to filter intent before the click, not after. Generic ads like “your local real estate agency, wide range of properties” filter nothing. An ad that specifies property type, suburb range and a price signal — “3-bed homes in Paddington from $1.2M, inspection bookings open” — converts better because it disqualifies the wrong audience before they click.
Keywords that generate qualified enquiries
High-converting real estate searches in Australia follow a consistent pattern: property type + suburb or postcode + intent signal. “Buy 2-bedroom apartment Southbank Melbourne” outperforms “apartments Melbourne” because the intent signal is explicit. “New development North Sydney with parking” outperforms “new apartments Sydney” because it filters for a specific feature.
Negative keywords are critical from day one. Exclude “rent,” “rental,” “lease” if you are selling. Exclude “sell my property,” “property valuation,” “appraisal” if you are a buyer’s agent. Exclude “property management,” “landlord,” “investment property calculator” unless these are services you offer. These terms carry high search volume and CPCs nearly as high as buyer-intent terms, but they attract entirely different audiences.
For developers with a specific project, exact and phrase match on the development name, suburb and property type outperforms broad terms. If your project is called “Highpoint Residences” in North Ryde, bidding on “[new apartments North Ryde 2026]” captures high-intent searches at lower CPCs than broad terms.
How to filter low-quality leads before they cost you money
The most common mistake in real estate Google Ads is measuring success by number of enquiries. An unqualified real estate lead has almost no value: it might be someone looking to rent when you sell, someone with a $400,000 budget looking at $900,000 properties, or someone from interstate with no genuine intention to relocate.
The enquiry form is your first filter. Asking for property type interest, suburb preference and approximate budget range eliminates 30–50% of low-quality contacts without reducing qualified enquiry volume. Agencies that implement this filter spend less time chasing dead leads, which reduces the real cost per settled transaction even if the cost per raw enquiry rises.
For developers with projects above $800,000 AUD, changing the CTA from “enquire now” to “register for inspection” filters further. Someone willing to book an inspection has a significantly higher purchase intent than someone requesting a brochure.
Performance Max for real estate: use with caution
Performance Max can work for real estate if the conversion signal is properly defined, but it has specific risks in this sector. The algorithm optimises toward conversions, and in real estate the conversion is almost always a form submission or a phone call. If the system cannot distinguish between an enquiry from a $500,000 budget buyer and a $1.5M budget buyer, it will optimise for volume, not for quality.
The recommendation for most real estate agencies is to start with Search using Smart Bidding (Target CPA) before adding Performance Max. Once there is sufficient conversion history — a minimum of 30–50 conversions per month — PMax can extend reach into Display, YouTube and Maps inventory, where local property intent is high.
What budget does a real estate agency actually need
With CPCs of $4–10 AUD on high-intent buying terms and a click-to-enquiry conversion rate of 3–7% with a well-built landing page, each enquiry generated costs between $55 and $280 AUD depending on the suburb and competition level.
For an agency earning $12,000–$25,000 AUD in commission per settled transaction, an enquiry cost of $100–150 is very workable if the enquiry-to-settlement rate is 5–10%. The problem is almost always that without lead qualification, the conversion rate from enquiry to settlement drops to 1–3%, making the real cost per transaction prohibitive.
The minimum recommended monthly ad spend to generate enough data for proper optimisation is $1,500–$2,500 AUD. Below that threshold, enquiry volume is too low to identify which keywords, ads and landing pages drive the best buyers. For total costs including management, see how much Google Ads management costs in Australia.
Google Ads vs Domain and REA for buyer acquisition
The portals have the volume advantage: millions of active property searchers already on the platform. The downside is that your listing competes directly with every other agency in the portal, and the buyer can compare price and features in seconds.
Google Ads captures the buyer before they enter the portal, when they are still defining their search. Someone who clicks your Google ad before visiting Domain or REA arrives without having compared you to competitors. That lead has a higher closing rate than one who contacts you after viewing 40 listings on a portal.
The most effective strategy combines both channels with distinct objectives: portals for listing visibility and volume, Google Ads for direct acquisition of high-intent enquiries at the moment of active search.
Run a real estate agency or development project in Australia and want to know whether your current campaigns are generating qualified buyers? Tell us about your project.