Property platform Lamudi has announced its partnership with real estate company SM Development Corp. (SMDC), which has set its sights on expanding its market reach further in the “new normal.”
“During the pandemic, we’ve discovered the power of online selling. Our sales come both from our physical broker network and also through the internet,” SMDC President Jose Mari Banzon said during the latest episode of Lamudi’s “On the House: Small Talk with Big Bosses.”
SMDC said it recognizes the importance of strengthening online presence to accommodate the needs of buyers in the time of the pandemic, especially since a significant portion of the market has gone digital. It is turning to online listings, as community quarantine measures are still in place, limiting physical property showings.
According to Lamudi’s trend report published last May, there was a 31-percent increase in site visits from returning platform users from March to April 2020. This suggests that those who were thinking about real estate before the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) gave property purchase a more serious thought during the ECQ.
Aside from responding to the new normal of property search, the company aims to connect to overseas Filipino workers (OFW) better. “Through SMDC’s partnership with Lamudi, property seekers abroad can easily find SMDC projects on the platform. They can have all the information they need for investment decisions, from prices to amenities to locations, and even neighborhood ratings.”
Speaking with Lamudi CEO Kenneth Stern for On the House: Small Talk with Big Bosses, Banzon said SMDC has allotted funding to agents overseas in order to create interactive websites and a 360-degree view of showrooms. “What we want is for the website to sell the Philippines, sell real estate in the Philippines, and give the potential buyer the capability to do the transaction through the Internet.”
As SMDC embraces innovations in going digital, it said it is optimistic about the seriousness of buyers today, as well as the strong real estate appetite for properties located within the central business districts (CBDs).
In Lamudi’s latest trend report, Hotspots Unwrapped: 2020’s Most Popular Locations, the data shows that cities with CBDs remain popular among real estate seekers. Quezon City leads the list, followed by Makati, Pasig, and Taguig.
