The Bureau of Historic Losses · Counterfactual Division
What if you'd bought REA Group in 2009?
realestate.com.au's owner was a small-cap riding out the GFC, with property listings looking like the last thing a frozen market needed. The network-effect property portal was hiding in plain sight at single-digit dollars.
$100 on 2009-01-01, worth today
A$5,033
As of 2026-06-12, $100 of REA Group bought at 2009's open (A$2.84) is worth A$5,033 — 50.3×.
total return · dividends reinvested · AUD
How much would $100 of REA Group bought in 2009 be worth today?
| You'd have put in | You'd have now | Multiple |
|---|---|---|
| A$100 | A$5,033 | 50.3× |
| A$1,000 | A$50,331 | 50.3× |
| A$10,000 | A$503,308 | 50.3× |
Lump sum on the year's first trading day, total return (dividends reinvested, splits adjusted), valued at the latest close. Past performance isn't a promise — it's a taunt.
What did REA Group do in 2009?
Opened
A$2.84
2009-01-01
Peaked
A$7.72
2009-12-30
Bottomed
A$2.67
2009-02-17
Closed
A$7.72
2009-12-30
Levels are dividend-adjusted, so historical figures look lower than the headline price of the day — that's the total-return lens, and it's the honest one.
Would steady buying have beaten going all in?
A$91,100 deployed as $100 a week from 2009-01-01, under four temperaments — same money, different nerves.
| All in on day one | A$4.6M |
| Steady weekly buys | A$545,703 |
| Sold dips, rebought rallies | A$506,846 |
| Traded it perfectly | A$1M |
“Traded it perfectly” requires knowing the future. Nobody knew the future.
The same $1,000, elsewhere
$1,000 at 2009's open, each valued at the latest close. Hindsight remains undefeated.
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