Reasons for imminent change in global real estate market

The global real estate market is on the verge of change from the traditional way of listing, buying, selling and renting as the shift from off-line to online transaction catches on with most countries of the world, especially the emerging markets of Africa, Asia, Latin America, etc.

Online real estate market operators note that growing internet compliance, transparency and cost-effectiveness of this platform, among other things, are the game changers that have come to be.

Lamudi, an online real estate marketplace which launched operations in 13 countries worldwide in 2013, has listed five reasons why the real estate market will change, disclosing that last year, global internet users amounted to 2.4 billion people, with growth being driven mainly by emerging markets.

The company, a part of the Africa Internet Holding (AIH) which introduces and accelerates the online shift in Africa for its people and culture, supports this ongoing shift from offline to online and is a real game changer such that even in smaller markets like Myanmar, more than 5,000 real-estate agents are already registered on Lamudi.

Lamudi, in a statement in Lagos, says searching and finding properties on the internet has really hit the nerve in emerging markets, disclosing that currently, hits on all its websites increase by up to 97 percent each month.

According to David Zahn, who signed the statement, current user behaviour shows that the peaks for searching are not in the morning but between 2pm and 6pm, assuring that with Lamudi Alerts, people will never miss the latest news on any property again that meets their criteria and preferences.

By this development, Zahn adds, checking newspapers every morning for properties is old-fashioned and not needed anymore, pointing out that people have the opportunity to save the cost for the commission they normally have to pay brokers.

“Nearly 50 percent of the registered advertisers on Lamudi are non-professional real-estate brokers,” he says, adding: “Online real estate platforms like Lamudi ensure total price transparency and therefore ensure that both parties do not need to haggle about the price anymore; users clearly know what they get for their money.”