Two young Melbourne entrepreneurs have launched an online portal specifically for off-the-plan apartments in Melbourne, and they have plans to expand into Sydney, Brisbane and the Gold Coast next.

Tom Hywood and Jordan Catalano started ApartmentDevelopments.com.au last September, and already have 55 developments on the site, which is approximately 75 per cent of the entire premium, advertised development market in Melbourne. Catalano, 24, is the son of Antony Catalano, the founder of one of Melbourne’s largest multimedia businesses, Media Metro Publishing. His business partner Hywood, 23, is the son of Fairfax media Chief Executive Greg Hywood, and previously worked at Fairfax’s real estate portal Domain.

The pair works from an office in South Melbourne, and sought advice from prominent members of the real estate community – project marketers, real estate agents, and developers and media buyers – before they started. Catalano says the idea for the site came from the fact there was not a specific dedicated portal to off the plan apartments. “It was born out of frustration when looking for apartments on other portals,” he says.

Hywood said that because there’s a limited amount of off-the-plan purchases in Melbourne, the site aims to develop a strong database of people who will actually lead into sales for the developments listed. “Our focus is quite a unique focus in the advertising market, we pride ourselves on the conversion rate that we can provide in comparison to our competitors,” says Hywood. The site has already had conversion rates as high as 33 per cent from enquiry to sale. “Some developers who have advertised solely on Apartment Developments have reported multiple sales that can be directly attributed to their advertising on our site,” said Catalano. “There are developments out there that don’t list with Domain or realestate.com.au because they can’t afford it and we are positioned to be a place that they can afford.”

The pair does plan to take their model overseas in future, starting with Asia, but are focused on Australia for now. “We want to perfect our backyard before we go elsewhere,” says Catalano. “Within the next year, we will be in Sydney and Brisbane and the Gold Coast. We’re lucky that we’re in a market that is the biggest in Australia for off-the-plan apartments, so we feel that once we’ve got Victoria perfectly covered then we can go and have a look at other areas.”