Expotrade Mideast: UAE real estate appetite driving proptech tools

Expotrade Middle East's regional director, Brad Hariharan, said shifting trends in the consumer real estate market were contributing to the growth of property technology (proptech) platforms in the region, led by the UAE, with Hariharan citing HSBC's 2017 study on proptech – which found that 72% of UAE property buyers browse online portals before making a decision – to explain the tech movement.

HSBC's report also found that 67% of UAE buyers used online tools to check the value of their existing home, with 65% and 64% respectively checking proptech for tax and regulation related data, and prospective home prices.

Commenting on the trend, Hariharan said: “Realising its impact on UAE property buyers, more and more real estate websites are launching proptech tools on their sites.

"Among these, virtual reality (VR), blockchain, chatbots, big data and analytics, and drones are making the entire property buying, leasing, marketing, selling, and management process more efficient and exciting."

Hariharan said VR's ability to offer buyers visual previews of a property could “bring immediacy and transparency to real estate transactions”, adding that stakeholders such as property developers, managers, financiers, and agents, as well as asset managers, were therefore turning to similar proptech for their businesses.

Source: Construction Week Online

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