If I were forced to buy one ASX stock and then ignore the share price for the next decade, I would be looking for dominance, pricing power, and a business model that quietly compounds regardless of the economic backdrop.
For me, that stock is REA Group Ltd (ASX: REA).
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Market dominance that competitors simply can't match
REA's strength starts with its overwhelming position in Australian property listings, and the gap to competitors is not narrowing.
In the first quarter of FY26, realestate.com.au averaged 12.6 million monthly users, with 6.7 million of them using the platform exclusively. Average monthly visits reached 147.9 million, which is more than 111 million visits per month ahead of its nearest competitor. Buyer enquiries grew 19% year-on-year, while seller leads jumped 35%.
Those numbers matter because they reinforce the flywheel that keeps agents, developers, and advertisers locked into the platform. More buyers attract more sellers. More sellers attract more agents. And that scale makes it very difficult for rivals to compete on value, even if they discount heavily.
Pricing power
One of the most impressive aspects of this ASX stock's performance in FY26 is that it continued to grow revenue and earnings despite lower listing volumes.
Group revenue rose 4% year-on-year to $429 million, while EBITDA increased 5% to $254 million. Free cash flow jumped 16% to $86 million.
In Australia, residential Buy revenue growth was driven by a 13% increase in yield, even though national listings were down 8%. That yield growth came from higher pricing on premium products, increased take-up of add-on features, and deeper penetration across listings.
This is exactly what you want to see from a dominant marketplace. When volumes fluctuate, pricing and product depth do the heavy lifting.
A business that keeps widening its moat
REA is not standing still. During the quarter, it completed the acquisition of iGUIDE, an AI-enabled property imaging and floor plan platform, which strengthens its offering to agents and vendors. It continues to invest heavily in data, audience tools, and premium advertising products that lift returns for customers and reinforce its value proposition.
Importantly, REA still only has around 10% penetration of its broader addressable market in areas like financial services, data, and adjacent property services. That gives the ASX stock multiple long-term growth levers beyond simple listing volumes.
Why this is a true buy and forget ASX stock
REA is not cheap in a traditional sense, and it probably never will be. But that's because it combines rare attributes: structural dominance, strong cash generation, and the ability to grow earnings without relying on constant market expansion.
Over a 10-year horizon, I care far more about whether a company can maintain relevance, pricing power, and customer dependence than whether it looks optically cheap today.
On those measures, REA stands out. It's the kind of business I'd be comfortable owning through housing cycles, interest rate changes, and market volatility, without feeling the need to check the share price every week.
If the goal is long-term compounding rather than short-term trading, this is about as close as the ASX gets to a set-and-forget stock. And with its share price down 32% from its high, there might have never been a better time to invest.
