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A CONSORTIUM of premier real estate companies has joined forces to create a new property portal, houza.com, as the market bounces back from a testing six months.
houza – the UAE’s new home for buying, selling and renting property – has brought together a strong collective of brokerages in an unlikely alliance to offer all real estate agencies in the UAE more choice when selecting a portal on which to list their properties.
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The business model offers the first agency-backed, full-scale property portal for property seekers across the UAE, for buying, renting and selling, and its conception was motivated by the lack of options and autonomy for agencies.
Heading up the operation is Barry Judge, former CEO of dubizzle and CEO of OLX Group MENA. He has formed a world-class team with extensive marketplace experience, including specialists in sales, user experience and engineering.
Judge explained that the project, developed in response to tough market conditions, has gained momentum quickly as attention turned towards finding new, more cost-effective routes to market.
“It has been well-documented that it’s been a difficult year for the industry. We wanted to provide greater choice for agencies and as a result, deliver more leads and revenue opportunities.”
Judge continued, stating that “this turbulent period was a moment of realisation for many agencies and seeing them align with our vision to build a solution together has been overwhelming.”
The portal boasts support from top consumer-facing agencies in the UAE, such as Allsopp & Allsopp, Betterhomes, Driven Properties, D&B Properties and Espace, as well as leading segment-specific agencies, CORE Real Estate and CRC in commercial property, and LuxuryProperty.com in high-end residential units. Recently launched Linda’s Real Estate has also come on board.
So, why would agencies choose to list on houza?
On the surface, the nature of adding competition in the portal market can lead to reduced marketing costs, while increasing exposure for listings.
Agencies signing up to be part of the houza Network will gain a host of benefits, which will allow smaller or independent brokers access to free PropTech tools and competitive rates for software, that will drive cost and business optimisation for everyone.