Real estate business is as complex as any other venture that involves investment. To elaborate: for investors property forecast comes with its own set of complications as real price estimation requires hectic efforts, as well as the availability of past statistics for precise calculations.
In Pakistan, one may find it difficult to obtain exact property price figures for the start of the new millennium, since no authentic information exists on this front. The advent of property portals, however, completely transformed the country’s real estate industry. And websites such as Zameen.com (which debuted in 2006) provide great insights into the dynamics of the national property marketplace.
But much work remains to be done; especially in the wake of the real estate documentation drive being aggressively pursued by the government. Part of the executive’s efforts aimed at recording property transactions involves the compilation of comprehensive data – a task which it can (as per its convenience) partially complete by scouring the web.
The Internet Factor
Technological advancements aren’t a concern of the modern age, rather they’ve become a necessity in the 21st century. Development stems from enhancing the conventional model. And, for real estate stakeholders in Pakistan, technology has worked to bring about:
- Transparency in prices
- Information repository
- Collection of prevailing trends
- New system of checks and balance
- New ways of selling property
Price transparency
This is perhaps the most remarkable achievement of the internet and it has benefited every real estate stakeholder – whether the person is an end-user, an overseas investor or a real estate agent/consultant – in one way or the other.
Nowadays, if you are looking to buy or sell property, one of the main tasks that you have to fulfil is to sift through the internet for property prices. Property search has never been easier.
Repository of market information
The subjectivity of the matter aside, internet provides at least some picture of the current market situation. If you are looking for information on the market, say the state of development in a particular housing society or other private commercial or residential projects, there will always be a wealth of information available online in the form of texts, videos, and photos. While a section of that is certainly marketing content, if there are serious issues with a project or other problems that affect it, there will usually still be information available about it, you just have to look for it.
Zameen.com set the trend of property analysis through the creation of its blog section; in addition to setting up the Zameen Forum; which has served as a gathering place of sorts, particularly for overseas Pakistani investors. What really sets the property portal apart from others is the creation of innovative tools which provide market information that is available nowhere else.
For example, Zameen Index provides a wealth of data on property price figures. This tool coupled with the surrounding market situation offers captivating insights into the workings of Pakistan’s real estate sector.
Another recent entrant to the digital world of real estate is Zameen.com’s Plot Finder tool.
Collection of trends
This is another amazing feature introduced by Zameen.com. While the internet in general can give us information about the prevailing trends, Zameen.com has refined the process through its Search Trends tool. What makes the tool so effective is that it collects data based on user’s search preferences.
If a housing project is trending, the said utility tells you a lot about it and provides you avenues for further research. This is made even better by the fact the tools takes it down to the level of localities. At least for the more popular localities in the metropolitans, it can be an incredibly useful tool to gauge the changing trends among the public.
New system of checks and balances
Where previously absolutely no checks and balances existed, now the internet has provided pockets of areas and debates where people can voice their opinions on various subjects – including real estate.
New legislation has also helped make the system more efficient in that the information on legal and illegal housing societies is now more readily available, particularly on the websites of the development authorities of major cities.
New ways of selling property
This trend has benefited everyone from hard-core realtors to genuine buyers. The appearance of real estate websites has transformed the way sale and purchase of real estate or marketing works. Here, too, Zameen.com should be lauded for its efforts aimed at providing modern, innovative solutions to real estate concerns.
Moreover, the company is all set to launch Property Bank, a product that is designed to bring buyers and sellers together and address thousands of seller leads lost to market inefficiency. Property Bank is already being hailed as a utility that will revitalise the real estate sector – the development of which is the need of the hour.
