About

What happens when a frustrated first home buyer can’t find the right place?

In my case, I built something from scratch.

Back in the mid-2000s, while trying to buy my first property, I found the search process incredibly fragmented. Visiting dozens of agency websites, scribbling down prices, and trying to remember what I'd already looked at was both time-consuming and inefficient. At the same time, Google Earth was gaining popularity, and it struck me—why wasn’t there a way to browse real estate listings on a map?

That idea sparked what would become Suburbview.

I started by manually marking listings in Google Earth, and as the project grew, I built tools to automatically scan and collect listings from agent websites. I created one of Australia’s first map-based real estate search engines—long before property portals made mapping standard. Suburbview gave homebuyers, like myself, a clearer and more centralised view of what was on the market.

As Suburbview evolved, I realised I’d also built something else along the way: a historical archive. I was sitting on data that showed what properties were previously listed for, how long they stayed on the market, and any price changes. That led to the launch of Old Listings in 2007—Australia’s first public archive of historical property listings.

Today, Suburbview is a real-time search engine built on over a decade of experience in property data. It scans thousands of Australian agency websites daily, displaying listings from across the country and surfacing them in one clean, searchable map interface. Whether you're a buyer, renter, investor, or just curious about what's happening in your suburb, Suburbview is designed to make real estate search faster, smarter, and easier to visualise.

Old Listings remains active as a companion platform, focused on historical data and price tracking. Together, the two sites offer a unique blend of present and past, helping users make more informed decisions by seeing both what’s available now—and what came before.

If you're working on something in the property, mapping, or data space, I’m always happy to chat.

Thanks for visiting,
 Mark F
 

Mark working on Suburb View and Old Listings, building tools from scratch to track Australia’s property history.