Jonathan Lui today launched SohoAI’s real estate AI, which he describes as Australia’s first AI-native property portal. Lui, who co-founded Airtasker (ASX: ART), predicted that AI will keep wearing down the competitive moats that make listed portal operators such as REA Group (ASX:REA) so valuable.
This comes just as REA Group’s share price is already 44% below its February 2025 peak. As the AFR put it, “The fear that AI will threaten the monopolies of the online property platforms has destroyed billions of dollars.”
SohoAI offers the first hard evidence of that disruption playing out.
“SohoAI is a free-to-list platform that displays the property listings the same way as the market leaders,” said Lui, “but SohoAI also has the full power of LLM-powered AI chat and 10 years of real estate data.
Sure, you can search listings, but you can also do things no other portal can, such as showcase data and market analysis.
Note: It displays the data how you want to see it, whether in text, a table, or a chart, and remembers your conversation histories.
“Artificial intelligence has already shrunk the moats around the biggest property portal businesses. We believe these businesses are likely to continue to lose market cap as investors are no longer willing to pay high multiples for the future earnings of listed portal companies.”
“The move from print to online created the portals that dominate the industry today. AI is the same kind of inflection point when new industry leaders can emerge from the massive paradigm shift in users’ expectations. It’s inevitable that real estate discovery will move towards an AI chatbot-powered experience within the next few years.”
The Founder Behind SohoAI
Lui is best known as a co-founder of ASX-listed Airtasker, but his track record goes further. He co-founded The Pillars, Sydney’s private members club for successful business leaders in Australia. He also co-founded the fund Tank Stream Ventures and Tank Stream Labs, Australia’s largest tech coworking operator. Tank Stream Labs was acquired in 2025 by ASX-listed tech accelerator Scalare Partners (ASX:SCP).
SohoAI has run in private beta since early 2026, and this week’s release is version 1.0, which is focused on real estate discovery and research. Like all LLMs, SohoAI will make mistakes now and then, but it is being improved every week. The upcoming Version 2.0 is planned to have abilities that could include being able to inquire about property, set up inspections, and negotiate on your behalf.
New Capital Raise Targeted for Early 2027
Note: To bring its AI experience to more consumers and the industry, Lui plans for SohoAI to raise a new round by the first quarter of calendar-year 2027.
SohoAI has raised over $9M so far. Its most recent round, in 2023, valued the company at more than $20 million. Backers include Feedback Ventures (Singapore), Bridgelane Capital (Australia), and Second Century Ventures (U.S.). SohoAI is also an alumnus of the REACH Proptech programme, set up by the National Association of Realtors, which represents over 1.5 million U.S. real estate agent members.
Pricing and Availability
SohoAI is available on web, iOS and Android. Free users get up to three prompts a day and access to three months of proprietary market data. Paid plans unlock full access. Visit the pricing page for details.
About SohoAI
SohoAI is the new, AI-first iteration of Soho.com.au, a property portal founded in 2018 by Australian tech heavyweight Jonathan Lui. SohoAI has long been a leader in AI real estate discovery and has matched over 1 million properties per week for its users using AI. Visit SohoAI’s website for real estate AI or download the apps on the iOS App Store and Android Play Store.
