Over the last decade the real estate industry of Pakistan underwent enough historic highs and lows to rival the wild motion of a rollercoaster ride.
The first half of it fared well enough for stakeholders, even though the economy was in recession. But it ended in something of a mess, leaving property professionals in various stages of denial, bitterness, and confusion – and hoping for the government to sweep in with some miraculous relief policy to revive the business to its former glory.
On the plus side, however, this decade also witnessed the introduction of all manner of digital technologies to the property marketplace. Online real estate portals like Zameen.com largely brought about this sea change, and all but revolutionized the business in their wake. The portal had been in operation since 2006, but it was only after its crossover into the 2010s that it started making serious waves on both the local and international fronts; eventually becoming the dominant player in the local niche.
End users, in particular, reaped the most benefit from these developments, since these new tools enabled them to search their desired property options for rent or purchase on the click of a smartphone button.
How Zameen.com triggered a local revolution
In addition to alleviating all need for property searchers to physically commute from one house, apartment or commercial unit to another, Zameen brought everything from hard-hitting market analyses and current price trends info to customised property locating options and high definition pictures/videos of listings to the nation’s mobile screens and desktops. So it won’t be an exaggeration to say that the company spearheaded the ‘techvolution’ of the national real estate industry.
Zameen.com’s ever-increasing popularity and expansion is ample proof that the Pakistani people, and most certainly buyers and realtors, are always ready to embrace digital and smart solutions to ease their lives and businesses. And the company – in line with its founding vision to innovate and help the property market grow – is introducing multiple solutions and products with wide-ranging, real-life, applications.
Property Bank: The latest addition to Zameen.com’s tech arsenal
After the recent launch of Plot Finder, Zameen’s brand new tool that provides freely accessible geo-coded maps of housing societies in 30+ cities (and counting), Pakistan’s most frequented property platform is all set to introduce ‘Property Bank’.
This latest addition aims to bring to light real estate leads which remain unrepresented by agencies and individual realtors. And which, consequently, do not sell.
Property Bank, as such, will ensure that these unutilised listings get better public attention through agencies and realtors, and so do not fall victim to fraudsters or any other inefficiencies that still continue to hamper the progress of the industry.
The tool will initially focus on cataloguing over 25,000 properties presently listed by individuals on the Zameen website which are not endorsed by any agency. This Property Bank will then be made accessible to agencies in a bid to get the properties the promotion and attention required for them to sell quickly.
The objective of this digital solution, as is true of every other company offering, is to bring property buyers and sellers closer, and to secure mutually beneficial transactions. Moreover, it seeks to bring best practices and greater transparency to the market; and to help establish a documented and streamlined economic future for the country.
The changing landscape of Pakistan’s property sector
The country’s real estate sector has always been perceived as a solid and lucrative investment avenue – traditionally expected to offer as much as a 100% return on investment (ROI) within a few years. Now, who could have ever ignored such appeal? Further, the tax liabilities were minimal, which led everyone from regular nine-to-fivers to speculative investors and overseas Pakistanis (who found themselves rattled in a post-9/11 world) to buy plots and homes in the hopes of rakings generous profits.
This scenario, however, is no longer in force.
The year 2018 proved to be a difficult one for the industry; with its effects continuing into the first half of 2019.
The elections, budget, tax revisions, new government policies, the dollar-hike, and renewed executive attempts to enforce regulations, all combined to leave investors wary of committing to the market – leading to what the press called a ‘static spell’. But increasingly over the last few months of 2019, and even more so as this year progresses, there seems to be greater public acceptance of the government’s financial accountability efforts.
“At present, much of the market lacks proper representation, which is why some viable real estate investment opportunities slip through the cracks. Property Bank, as a preventative measure, seeks to check all such instances,” explains Ahmad Bhatti, Country Head for Zameen.com.
“Once this exercise starts, we will ultimately be adding to the market’s transaction volumes, which will directly aid in uplifting the sector as a whole,” he added.
Technology is the way forward for the property sector
In this time and age, where technology is streamlining every aspect of commerce and trade, real estate can no longer afford to lag.
Modern technological implements are not only facilitating and simplifying property trade but also making it transparent so that people no longer succumb to scams and lose their life-earnings.
So a revival of the industry, considering this development, may not be too far off.
