Property management startup Hometime looks to expand

Australian property management startup, Hometime, is taking a page out of the Airbnb book, tapping into the accommodation marketplace that is sweeping the globe, especially in its own home nation. Thanks to this boom in short-term home-sharing, the startup has grown its revenue four times over in just little over a year.

The company, which has gone from an annual revenue run rate of $1.5 million in December 2017 to a $7 million run rate in January this year, is now readying to expand throughout the Asia-Pacific region within the next six months.

Hometime provides home owners renting out their properties on Airbnb with a management platform that tracks how much money they are making, while also handling all aspects of the hosting experience such as guest inquiries, cleaning and linen changes.

At the moment it serves seven local markets, having recently entered the Sunshine Coast and Byron Bay, but with competitors popping up across the globe, co-founder Dave Thompson said now was the time to make the move offshore.

"We hope to be in 15 markets within the next 12 to 18 months," Thompson said.

"The industry is moving very quickly and a lot of capital is flowing into the sector and companies are moving ahead quickly. We need to follow suit."

Hometime was launched in 2016 by Thompson and William Crock, and has increased its staff from five people only three years ago to almost 100 and is one of only two Airbnb official partners in the region.

While Airbnb doesn't publish its local growth statistics, independent website Inside Airbnb  recently released an analysis of the platform's public listings, which showed there had been an 87 percent rise in total listings across Australia in the past 12 months.

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