More Filipinos use social media to hunt for properties: report
MORE HOMEBUYERS are hunting properties on social media, a trend underscoring the need for developers and sellers to groom their online presence to boost sales, according to a digital property marketplace.
In a report released late Monday, the Lamudi Group noted the use of social media for the search and ultimately discovery of properties in the Philippines and the rest of Asia will become more apparent this year.
“This trend will ultimately lead to increased social media usage for real estate, both among buyers and sellers,” the global property Web site noted in the report Trends in Asia’s Online Real Estate Market in 2017.
Citing data from the 2015 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers by the National Association of Realtors, Lamudi said 92% of homebuyers depended on the Internet for information, 65% viewed a home advertised online and 44% found their property on the cyberspace.
“Many of these homebuyers will have used social media to lead them on their search and their ultimate property discovery. This effect is only going to get stronger in 2017,” Lamudi said.
Developers and agents, on the other hand, have found value in increasing their brand’s visibility and boosting quality traffic through social media, according to Lamudi.
“Not only is social media boosting sales, it is boosting sales tremendously. This is partly because property is more visible to international buyers searching online than ever before,” Lamudi noted in the report.
The increased usage of online advertising reflects the deeper Internet penetration in the emerging markets of Asia. In the Philippines, more than 45% of the population already had access to the cyberspace in 2015, according to Lamudi.
“This increase in Internet usage has led to property hunters becoming more and more reliant on the Internet for their house hunt. As a result of this, real estate professionals are now spending more on digital than ever before,” Lamudi said. —