Australia’s largest property sales platform, REA Group, has pulled out of a small, seemingly innocuous acquisition after the competition regulator and the property sector raised serious competition concerns.

On Thursday morning, REA – which owns realestate.com.au – said it would no longer proceed with its planned $25 million purchase of Dynamic Methods, a little-known but crucial provider of real estate transaction forms. It had “elected to terminate this transaction for commercial reasons”, the company said.