NEW PROPERTY INDEX SHOWS MELBOURNE AND SYDNEY STAGING RECOVERY IN HOUSE PRICES, WHILE PERTH PROPERTY BOOM IS OVER

RP Data Ltd Media Announcement - 07th May 2007

The newly launched RP Data-Rismark “Hedonic” Property Price Index, which shows that house prices across Australia rose by 1 per cent over the March 2007 quarter (or 4% on an annualized basis), has been formally picked up by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in its Statement on Monetary Policy today.

The adoption of the RP Data-Rismark’s indices by the RBA is a significant endorsement of the underlying data and index construction methodologies. The RP Data-Rismark Indices are to be released each month by RP Data Limited (RP Data), an ASX listed company that is the largest supplier of property information services in Australia and NZ, and Rismark International (Rismark), a leading quantitative real estate research organization.

Key findings from the RP Data-Rismark Hedonic Property Index results for the March 2007 quarter include:

Melbourne looks to be staging a recovery with property prices during the quarter, growing strongly by nearly 6% on annualized basis;

The Perth property boom appears to be over, with prices falling by around 5.5% on an annualized basis during the quarter;

Sydney has shown signs of a sluggish rebound with property prices rising by just over 3% on an annualized basis during the quarter;

Adelaide and Brisbane are clearly the stand-outs, with annualized price growth of 10.76% and 6.08% recorded respectively during the March quarter;

Darwin prices have registered a significant slide, falling by nearly 10% on an annualized basis during the March quarter.

The RP Data-Rismark Hedonic Property Index is Australia’s first “hedonic” index and has been hailed by credit rating agency Moody’s as “a significant improvement in the quality of housing price statistics available in Australia” and arguably one of the best of its kind in the world (for more information on the Moody’s report please go to http://www.rpdata.com/indices).

The RP Data-Rismark Hedonic Property Index results, which measure price changes through time by controlling for a property’s location, land size, construction type and specific characteristics (eg. number of bedroom and bathrooms), have been reported in the RBA’s Statement on Monetary Policy for the first time today. The key results for each capital city and the national market are as follows:

City Sydney Melbourne Adelaide Perth Canberra Brisbane Darwin Australia

March quarter (% change) 0.79 1.39 2.69 -1.37 0.01 1.52 -2.46 1.00

Dr Vito Mollica, Research Manager at Rismark, said, “According to the RP Data- Rismark Hedonic Indices, property prices in Sydney rose by 3.2% on annualized basis for the March 2007 quarter, indicating that there may be signs of a recovery.

"Importantly, this is in stark contrast to results that would have been obtained from a typical "median price series” which, with all its well-documented biases, would have recorded a fall in Sydney prices of 9.4% on an annualized basis for March 2007. The dramatic difference in these results is just one example of how the use of crude index construction techniques can give rise to highly erroneous findings, particularly if one does not control for the characteristics of different properties that are sold over time. The use of RP Data-Rismark’s advanced "hedonic" indices eliminates these biases.

“The RP Data-Rismark Index results show that while Perth may have overtaken Sydney as the most expensive capital city with median property prices in excess of $500,000, it has registered its first correction in over two years. According to the RP Data-Rismark Hedonic Index, property prices in Perth fell by as much as -5.48% on an annualized basis during the March 2007 quarter, suggesting that the Perth property boom may have finally come to an end.”

“Interestingly, Melbourne looks to have staged a recovery, with property values rising by nearly 6% on annualized basis in March 2007 after controlling for the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, land size and location of the properties that sold during the period”, he added.

The RP Data-Rismark Indices will now be released on a monthly and quarterly basis, and will measure with unprecedented accuracy and timeliness the risk and return performance of homes in every suburb, postcode, capital city, and state, in Australia. The RP Data-Rismark Indices can also be used for property forecasting purposes.

Graham Mirabito, RP Data’s CEO, said, “We are delighted to have been selected by the RBA to provide them with our comprehensive property information, generated by the expertise of the Rismark research team.

“Given the importance of the $3.0 trillion residential real estate asset-class to Australian families and policymakers, RP Data and Rismark saw a need and an opportunity to respond to the deficiencies of the past. Both Moody’s and not-for-profit research organization SIRCA have found that we now produce the most accurate property information in Australia”, he added.

Dr Mollica concluded, “Our hedonic property price indices represent a quantum leap in the quality of house price indices available in Australia and have been selected by the world’s largest property derivatives broker, GFI Group, to be used as the basis for trading house price derivatives”. For more information on the new property derivatives market, go to: http://rpdata.com/news/rp/20070226b.html

Jurgen Breuer, GFI’s Senior Managing Director for Asia Pacific, said “We will be developing an over-the-counter residential house price derivatives market in Australia. The best-in-breed RP Data-Rismark house price indices will be used as the basis for property derivative contracts, which will be brokered by GFI.”

“House price derivatives will be useful for investors who want to gain, diversify or hedge their exposure to residential property, without the complexities associated with transacting in the underlying ‘physical’ market,” concluded Mr Breuer.

Graham Mirabito Chief Executive Officer RP Data Ltd Mobile: 0438 600 091 Email: graham.mirabito@rpdata.com www.rpdata.com

Dr Vito Mollica Research Manager Rismark International Mobile: 0419 923 081 Email: vito.mollica@rismark.com.au www.rismark.com.au

Issued By:
Tim Allerton
City PR
(02) 9267 4511

Background on RP Data
Established in 1991, ASX-listed RP Data (ASX: RPX) is the largest supplier of property information services throughout Australia and New Zealand. Subscription clients to RP Data’s property information service include over 8,000 real estate agents, valuers, property developers, financial institutions and government departments. RP Data is also the largest supplier of property reports to Australians with over 600,000 property reports issued each year.

With an annual investment of over $5Million in databases, RP Data has more than 65 million property data records covering 12.0 million properties in Australia and New Zealand including ownership records; 11.0 million property attribute records; 3.6 million property features records; 15.8 million property sales records;12.0 million property maps; 16.8 million property photos; and 9.0 million “on the market” property listing records. For more information visit www.rpdata.com.

Background on Rismark International
Rismark is a global real estate investment business that specialises in quantitative research, funding, and securitisation. Rismark is a privately-held entity owned by management, Adelaide Bank and LJCB Investments, which is the investment arm of members of the Liberman family. Rismark’s management team has extensive experience in quantitative residential real estate research and is augmented by a Global Research Advisory Board comprising of eminent academics from Sydney University, Melbourne University, and Yale. For more information visit www.rismark.com.au.