Properties for sale, now in Google Maps

[via report] House hunting is about to become less painful with property listings now available on Google Maps.

From Monday, homebuyers will be able to find hundreds of thousands of houses and units listed for sale or rent across Australia through Google Maps.

Listed properties will be marked on an interactive map, along with prices and descriptions supplied by areal estate agents.

The search can be based on price range, property size or location, and users are one click away from contacting a real estate agent.

Google Australia product manager Andrew Foster said that up to 87 per cent of home buyers or potential home buyers were using the internet to search for properties and that this new development would make the search even more effective.

Google Maps has offered a real estate search tool in the United States for some time, but Australian users will use an interface developed by Google's local development team.

The Australian version also differs from the US version because it includes information on rental properties.

Mr Foster said Google had worked with several real estate bodies and agencies to compile a comprehensive and updated list of all properties.

"When we say all, we really do mean all of the listings," he said.

"Showing real estate listings in Google Maps will drive more interested buyers to those property listings and this could be a huge opportunity for the real estate industry because there's millions of Google Maps users in Australia every day," Mr Foster said.

The service goes online at 1pm on Monday.