How Online Trends Are Affecting Philippine Real Estate

In today’s fast-paced economy, competition is more intense than ever before. New markets can grow and collapse within the space of days; opportunities can develop or be missed in just minutes; and customers, with their increasingly short attention span, can be gained or lost by a single strategy evidenced by a hit or failed ad campaign, or a new marketing technique that found resonance or fell upon blind eyes and deaf ears.

What makes the competition even more challenging is the increasing role of the Internet. It is easy to utilize the Internet; knowing how and what the “netizens” will bite are the difficult parts. With that in mind, we know that today, it is not a strange concept anymore for an online thrust to become a core pillar of a marketing strategy. After all, more and more people are having easy Internet connectivity. The same can be said with the use of social media. Doing something online and getting things done through the Internet are now part of the daily routine of many. It is not an exaggeration when we say that the Internet has become a virtual marketplace, and social media a virtual lounge.

Markets and industries were quick to recognize this and, accordingly, have redefined their ways of doing business as to conform with the new norm. One of the pioneers and the most prolific in doing so is the real estate market. From the newspaper advertisements and specialized catalogues of the yesteryears to introduce new real estate offerings, the industry now actively utilizes the Internet in advertising and in interacting with potential buyers, sellers, and other vital people. As such, real estate websites have begun to be a common feature of the online landscape. In the Philippines, one such leading real estate website is Lamudi.

This year, in a landmark publication, Lamudi presents its comprehensive study of the different facets and dynamics of the Philippine real estate market, and contrasts it with that of the neighboring countries in Asia. Included in that study are the trends in online real estate—its developments over the years and its implications for the future.

In its 2017 White Paper, Lamudi mentioned that almost half of the Philippines’ population now have access to the Internet, facilitated by the drastic rise of smartphones that offer easy and convenient connectivity. That roughly translates to more than 40 million people that can be reached by an online campaign. It is indeed a base that gives the promise of wide market saturation.

Thus, many real estate brokers, an overwhelming 88 percent of those surveyed by Lamudi, believe that the Internet, particularly an online thrust in marketing and advertising, represents the wave of the future. The Internet has now become their preferred choice when it comes to advertising properties for sale because more and more people now are using it in the property-hunting process.

Other data from the study support the real estate brokers’ assertion: Of the surveyed licensed real estate professionals, 91 percent observed a significant increase in inquiries made online. In addition, 59 percent of them cited online listing platforms as their most widely used online channel to advertise their property listings, while 18 percent of them cited social media platforms—a proof that social media is also becoming a place of market dealings, aside from its traditional role as an avenue of social interaction.

These developments have culminated to the rise of real estate portals. This gives buyers the ease and convenience at their fingertips. With just a single click, they can now see images of prospective properties and contact sellers anytime and anywhere.

Wanting to take these developments further, Lamudi hosted the country’s first-ever Virtual Reality Expo in September 2016—showcasing both impressive properties and the potential of great online campaigns through breakthrough technologies, such as a 360° online environment that can be seen from mobile and computer screens. The expo attracted people from all over the country, attesting to the reality that the online trend is not just here to stay but more so, to shape the future of the real estate market.

This article was contributed by Lamudi.