‘Challenging but so rewarding’: Zango CEO Darryn McRae looks back on 2021

Darryn McRae has had some serious challenges this year, not least of which was finding the best Japanese food in his new hometown, Canberra.

“We landed on Lazy Su in Braddon,” he says.

“Best tuna tartare I’ve ever tasted.”

The Zango CEO describes 2021 as “transformative” for the 22-month-old property platform, with the team behind Zango having to adapt its entire work approach and be prepared to update the platform within a moment’s notice to meet the challenges of Lockdown 2.0 in the ACT region.

“For the industry overarching it’s been a pretty demanding year,” Darryn says.

“But more than ever we’ve understood we’re all in it together.

“I’m incredibly proud of my team, but I’m also impressed by the way agencies in Canberra adapted their sales and marketing processes almost every day to suit what was going on in the world.”

A record number of those agencies are now listing their properties on Zango. The platform was home to thousands of sales and rental listings in 2021, with average time on market sitting at just 27 days.

Kambah was the most sought after suburb in 2021, with Braddon and Kaleen a close second and third.

“Canberrans know that Zango is a must-visit, more modern and truly local way to search for property,” Darryn says.

“There’s been huge interest from agents in the ACT region as well this year - they’ve seen the effectiveness of the platform in Canberra and know they get great value from being on Zango.

“We’re fielding more and more interest from agencies outside of Canberra, including on the south coast, in the Snowy Mountains and in the Southern Highlands.”

Zango’s partnerships with Hands Across Canberra, Strathnairn Charity House, the Canberra Raiders and the Canberra Brave were also gems in the crown of 2021, according to Darryn. Community is a big part of the Zango ethos he said, and work to support all four organisations will extend into next year and beyond. The inaugural Zango Futsal Cup was a great success and could turn into an annual event.

From where Darryn sits, 2022 is going to be a huge year.

“Definitely one of the highlights of 2021 was Zango’s performance in October and November,” he says.

“We had a record number of listings in October and a record number of people visiting our website - then we beat both of those numbers in November,” Darryn says.

“Our mobile app was recently upgraded with new features that offer personalisation on listings and searches. The benefit to users is they’re getting more relevant information, faster.

“The past year’s been challenging but so rewarding. We’re on a good foundation to kick off 2022 with a bang.”