---
title: "The Free REA Feature That Lets You Monitor Every Property on Your Street"
description: "A step-by-step guide to using realestate.com.au's hidden property tracking feature to monitor listings on your street. Essential for investors, developers, and anyone who wants first-mover advantage."
author: Joey Don
date: 2023-09-18
category: Market Analysis
url: https://premiumrea.com.au/blog/rea-property-monitoring-hack-track-neighbour-listings
tags: ["REA", "property monitoring", "off-market", "development", "Melbourne", "property alerts", "first mover", "investment tools"]
---

# The Free REA Feature That Lets You Monitor Every Property on Your Street

*By Joey Don, Co-Founder & CEO at PremiumRea — 2023-09-18*

> Whether you own property in Australia or not, there is a free feature inside the REA app that most people have never heard of. It will alert you the moment a property on your street — or any street you choose — hits the market. Here is exactly how to set it up.

I am about to show you something that most property investors, developers, and even experienced buyer's agents do not know exists. It is completely free, takes about 90 seconds to set up, and it will give you an automatic alert whenever a property near yours — or near any address you are watching — comes onto the market or becomes available for rent.

For our clients, we set this up on every property we acquire on their behalf. It means they know the moment a neighbouring property lists, which opens up consolidation and development opportunities that most investors never even see. But you do not need to be a client to use this. Anyone with the REA app on their phone can do it right now.

I am genuinely surprised this feature is not more widely known. It is buried inside the app behind a couple of non-obvious taps, but once you find it, it is extraordinarily powerful.

## Why monitoring neighbouring properties matters

Before I walk you through the setup, let me explain why this matters so much.

Scenario one: you own an investment property at 22 Henry Street. The property next door at 20 Henry Street comes up for sale. If you buy it, you can combine both lots. Your 600-square-metre block becomes a 1,200-square-metre development site. Instead of two separate houses, you can potentially build five townhouses. The economics of that transformation are enormous — we are talking about the difference between holding a single rental property and creating a multi-million-dollar development opportunity.

Scenario two: you own a property on a quiet street and you want to know when comparable properties in the neighbourhood sell. Every sale within 300 metres of your property directly affects your valuation. When the house three doors down sells for $720,000, it sets a new benchmark that your bank will reference in your next valuation. Knowing about that sale immediately — rather than discovering it months later on a valuation report — lets you time your refinancing strategically.

Scenario three: you are a developer monitoring a specific street for amalgamation opportunities. You have identified three blocks on Georgia Street that, if combined, would create a site capable of supporting four to five townhouses. Rather than calling the selling agents every week asking if anything has come up, you set up monitoring on all three addresses and wait for your phone to buzz.

In every scenario, information speed is the competitive advantage. The investor who knows first acts first. The one who finds out three weeks later misses the opportunity.

## Step-by-step: setting up property monitoring in the REA app

Here is exactly how to do it. Pull out your phone and follow along.

Step one: open the realestate.com.au app. If you do not have it installed, download it from the App Store or Google Play. It is free.

Step two: tap the search bar at the top and type in the address of the property you want to monitor. This can be your own property, a neighbour's property, or any property in Australia. For this example, let us use 20 Henry Street, Doncaster.

Step three: the property listing or profile will appear. You will see a button in the middle of the screen that says 'Check property.' Tap it.

Step four: on the property details page, tap 'More' to expand the options.

Step five: select 'I am interested in this property as a place I would like to buy.' This does not commit you to anything. It simply tells the app to track this address.

Step six: tap 'View property insights.' The property will now appear under the 'My Property' section at the bottom of the app.

Step seven — and this is critical — make sure your phone's notification settings for the REA app are turned on. Go to your phone's settings, find the REA app, and enable all notifications.

That is it. From now on, whenever this property lists for sale or for rent, you will receive a push notification on your phone immediately. No daily checking required. No calling agents. No scrolling through listings. The app does the work for you.

You can repeat this process for as many properties as you want. There is no limit. If you are monitoring an entire street for development potential, add every single address on that street. The notifications will come through individually, so you will know exactly which property has moved.

I want to emphasise something about the technical implementation that most guides miss. The notification system works differently depending on your phone's operating system.

On iOS, you need to go to Settings, scroll down to the REA app, and ensure all notification categories are enabled — not just the default ones. By default, iOS may only enable 'critical' notifications for the REA app, which does not include property listing alerts. You need to specifically enable 'all notifications' or the individual category for property updates.

On Android, the process is similar but the menu structure varies by manufacturer. Samsung phones bury notification settings differently than Pixel phones. The key is to find the REA app in your notification settings and ensure 'property alerts' or 'listing notifications' are toggled on.

Also, make sure your phone's battery optimisation settings are not preventing the REA app from running background refresh. Both iOS and Android have power-saving features that can silently kill background app activity, which means you might set up monitoring perfectly but never receive a notification because your phone killed the process.

On iOS, go to Settings, then Battery, then find REA and ensure 'Background App Refresh' is enabled. On Android, go to Settings, then Apps, then REA, then Battery, and select 'Unrestricted' rather than 'Optimised.'

These are small technical details, but if you miss them, you will set up monitoring and wonder why you never receive any alerts. I have had clients tell me the feature does not work when the reality was their phone was blocking the notifications.

## How our team uses this at scale

At our practice, we do not rely solely on the REA app for property monitoring. We have built internal tools that automate the process across hundreds of addresses simultaneously. But the REA feature is the perfect starting point for individual investors.

For every client property we manage — and we are currently managing over 350 across Melbourne — we set up monitoring on adjacent properties. When a neighbour lists, we immediately assess whether consolidation makes sense for our client. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it does not. But the option is always there because we see the opportunity before anyone else.

We are also developing our own automated deal-finding tools internally. The first phase will be completely free for users. These tools scan for undervalued properties based on specific criteria — land size, zoning, price per square metre, rental yield potential — and alert our team when something matches. It is the professional-grade version of what the REA app does for individual addresses.

The point is this: in property investment, information asymmetry is everything. The buyer who knows a property is about to list before the broader market sees it has a structural advantage. They can approach the agent directly. They can negotiate without auction pressure. They can secure off-market deals that never appear on any public platform.

Setting up REA monitoring on your target streets is the simplest way to start building that information advantage. It costs nothing and takes less than two minutes per address.

Let me explain the broader strategic context for why we invest so heavily in property monitoring infrastructure.

In Melbourne's southeast corridor — where the majority of our 350-plus managed properties are located — land subdivision and consolidation represent the single highest-value opportunity available to property investors. Two adjacent 600-square-metre blocks can be consolidated into a 1,200-square-metre development site. Depending on the zoning, that site can support four to six townhouses.

The economics are transformative. Two standalone houses worth $650,000 each ($1.3 million combined) can become a development site producing four townhouses worth $550,000 each ($2.2 million total). Even after $600,000 in construction costs, the developer walks away with $300,000 to $400,000 in profit.

But the entire equation depends on timing. Adjacent properties rarely list simultaneously. You might wait years for the right neighbouring lot to come to market. If you are not monitoring actively, you will miss it. Someone else will buy the lot as a standalone investment and the consolidation opportunity evaporates.

This is why we monitor every property adjacent to every client asset. Not because consolidation is appropriate for every client — it is not. But because the option to consolidate has enormous value, and that option only exists if you are first to know when the adjacent lot lists.

We have had three successful consolidation opportunities arise from our monitoring in the past 18 months alone. In each case, the client secured the adjacent lot before any competitor was even aware it was available. The monitoring notification came in, our team assessed the development potential within 24 hours, and the client made an informed decision while other potential buyers were still scrolling through weekend open inspection listings.

## Real examples of monitoring in action

Let me give you two concrete examples from our recent experience.

In Doncaster, we identified a property at 320 Georgia Street. The neighbouring lot at 322 is a corner block. If a client owned 320 and acquired 322, the combined site would have dual street frontage and enough land area to support four to five townhouses. We set up monitoring on 322 and every adjacent lot. When one of those lots eventually comes to market, our client will know within minutes.

In another case in Narre Warren, a client purchased a property through us on a street where several blocks had already been subdivided into dual-occupancy developments. The remaining undeveloped blocks were the premium targets. We monitored three specific addresses on that street. Within four months, one of them listed. Our client was the first to inspect, the first to make an offer, and secured it at a price that avoided the competitive tension of a public campaign.

These are not hypothetical scenarios. They are real outcomes driven by a simple principle: be first to know and you are first to act.

The free REA monitoring feature will not replace a dedicated buyer's agent with deep agent networks and off-market access. But for any investor who wants to stay informed about activity around their existing properties or target streets, it is an absurdly powerful tool that takes seconds to activate. Set it up today. You have nothing to lose and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars to gain.

For investors who want to take monitoring further than the REA app, there are several additional data points worth tracking on target streets.

Planning permit applications. Your local council publishes all planning permit applications online, typically with a delay of one to two weeks. If a planning permit for subdivision or multi-dwelling development appears on your target street, it signals that someone else has identified the same development opportunity. This is important intelligence whether you are the potential buyer or the potential competitor.

Recent sales data. PropTrack and CoreLogic both offer historical sales data by address. Tracking the sales history on your target street tells you the average hold period for properties on that street, the typical seller profile, and the price trajectory. If properties on a street change hands every eight years on average, and the most recent sale was seven years ago, the probability of a new listing in the next 12 to 18 months increases.

Rental listing activity. If a property on your target street appears as a rental listing, it tells you the owner is an investor, not an owner-occupier. Investors are statistically more likely to sell than owner-occupiers, and they are more responsive to direct approach offers. Monitoring rental listings on target streets gives you a preliminary map of investor-owned properties that might be available for purchase through a direct approach.

Combining REA monitoring with planning permit tracking, sales history analysis, and rental listing intelligence creates a comprehensive picture of opportunity on any given street. We do this systematically across our operating corridors. Individual investors can replicate a simplified version using free tools.

## References

1. [REA Group, 'realestate.com.au — Property Tracking and Alerts Feature Documentation', 2021.](https://www.realestate.com.au)
2. [CoreLogic Australia, 'Property Data and Automated Valuation Models — Methodology', 2020.](https://www.corelogic.com.au/research)
3. [PremiumRea portfolio data, January 2021. 350+ properties under active monitoring across Melbourne.](#)
4. [Victorian Planning Authority, 'Residential Zones — Subdivision and Development Standards', 2021.](https://www.planning.vic.gov.au)
5. [REIV, 'Melbourne Auction Clearance Rates and Sales Volume', January 2021.](https://reiv.com.au/property-data/auction-results)
6. [Domain Group, 'Off-Market Sales Analysis — Melbourne Metropolitan', 2020.](https://www.domain.com.au/research/)
7. [Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, 'Digital Platform Services Inquiry — Property Portals', Interim Report, 2020.](https://www.accc.gov.au)
8. [Urban Development Institute of Australia, 'Lot Supply and Development Pipeline — Melbourne Growth Areas', 2020.](https://www.udia.com.au)
9. [Reserve Bank of Australia, 'Financial Stability Review — Residential Property Market', October 2020.](https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/fsr/)
10. [Manningham City Council, 'Planning Scheme — Residential Development Provisions', 2020.](https://www.manningham.vic.gov.au/planning)
11. [City of Casey, 'Planning Scheme — Neighbourhood Residential Zone Schedules', 2020.](https://www.casey.vic.gov.au/planning)
12. [PropTrack, 'Automated Property Alerts and Market Intelligence — Methodology', 2021.](https://www.proptrack.com.au)

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Source: https://premiumrea.com.au/blog/rea-property-monitoring-hack-track-neighbour-listings
Publisher: PremiumRea (Optima Real Estate) — Melbourne buyers agent