It's shaping up as a battle of the online giants.
In one corner are the current champions of Australia's online real estate classifieds, realestate.com.au and Domain, and in the other corner is the challenger Google.
And there's no need for introductions.
While more than 90 per cent of Australians online use Google, the popular search engine is now looking to enter the property search market.
In Australia, that market is dominated by realestate.com.au and Domain. (Domain is owned by Fairfax Media, also the owner of My Small Business.)
Those sites received visits from 22 per cent and 14 per cent respectively of online Australians between March and May, according to Nielsen Online.
So far, realestate.com.au - part of REA Group Ltd and majority owned by News Limited - has only really had to worry about Fairfax's Domain nipping at its heels.
REA chief executive Greg Ellis, who is in his first year at the helm after former CEO Simon Baker's abrupt departure last year, has played down the threat to the realestate.com.au business and told AAP he welcomed the competition.
"It's a fairly rudimentary service," Mr Ellis said of the Google initiative.
"Google's a very good company, it is competition, but we welcome competition because it makes us stay focused for our customers and consumers.
"Our position in the marketplace is very strong - we are the market leader in online real estate."
Both Domain and realestate.com.au also rely to varying degrees on their links ranking well on Google's search results page to attract users to click through to their sites.
Ranking on page one is a virtual goldmine of "clicks".
Google keeps its magic formula to achieve those rankings - or what those in the business call search engine optimisation (SEO) - a closely guarded secret.
Now, with Google's entry into the online property classifieds game, Fairfax general manager of classifieds John Brand said it was like putting "Dracula in charge of the blood bank".
Mr Brand said they too welcomed the competition, but described Google as a search engine and not a property portal like Domain and realestate.com.au.
Domain also has both a print and online classified offering, which neither Google nor REA have, he said.
"At this particular point in time we'll watch very closely - time will tell - but from the agents' point of view we are a one-stop-shop that Google can never compete with," Mr Brand said.
Former REA boss Mr Baker said Google posed no real threat because its free listings would open the door to spam and fake listings.
"Just because it's Google doesn't mean it's going to win," Mr Baker said.
"The realestate.com.aus and Domains of the world, because they (real estate agents) pay to advertise, will have higher quality listings.
"Google will be able to drive traffic there, but they will drive traffic through to a combination of real listings and a combination of old listings, and a combination of some not real listings (spam and fake listings)."
Director of analytics at Nielsen Online, Mark Higginson, said the success of Google will depend upon the site's usability and its relationship with real estate agents, which is where realestate.com.au and Domain are clear leaders.
"Consumers initially only need to be able to decide between properties based on certain criteria, where it is, what does it look like, they're not going to buy a property based on pictures on a website," Mr Higginson said.
"So that's where realestate(.com.au) and Domain have that current advantage, by having the relationships with the real estate agents.
"And it's the real estate agents that sell properties - not the website."
Google now enables property searches through its Google Maps platform.
"We think people will really start to look at these listings a lot online within Google Maps and then click through to individual agency websites when they've found a property they're after," product manager Andrew Foster said.
Google has come into the market while it is in a downturn.
The realestate.com.au boss, Mr Ellis, said the downturn had driven real estate agents online to save money.
Mr Ellis describes the shift from print to online as a "seachange" that would normally have taken years to achieve.
So, is now a good time to buy into the property market?
The downturn in the economy has made housing more affordable, but Mr Ellis said the price of the property is not the issue, it's whether the buyer can afford it.
"But with inflation being relatively low and interest rates low, that would suggest it's a good time to buy," he said.
The federal government's stimulus package had also helped the under-$500,000 market with the extension of the first home buyer grant, he said, while the general economic stimulus has also allowed more money to go into the economy, which has offset the drop in consumer confidence.
"From an overall perspective, the evidence to date would suggest the stimulus has done a good job in weathering the economic storm," Mr Ellis said.
If consumer confidence and retail figures dropped, there may be an argument for another stimulus, he said.
The company has clawed back its international operations in Britain and New Zealand to focus on its Australian business and is planning to release a number of new products to the market.
Mr Ellis said the group had cut back its international operations but this had nothing to do with the global economic downturn.
"Our decision to focus on Australia was nothing to do with the global financial crisis ... (but) that there is a lot more profitable growth to happen in Australia," he said.
"We were spending too much time in the overseas businesses and not enough time in Australia.
"We've accepted now that we are not an international company - we're an Australian company with overseas operations."
Mr Ellis declined to comment on whether REA would withdraw from the United Arab Emirates but said the company remained committed to the businesses in Italy, Luxembourg and Hong Kong.
So, while REA refocuses on its Australian operations, Google's focus is clearly on moving into realestate.com.au's domain.
AAP
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