Over P3.6B worth of PHL properties sold through app

MORE THAN P3.6 billion worth of Philippine properties were sold through the prop-tech listing platform PropertyAccess over the last seven years, according to its Chief Operating Officer Andy Roberts.

“We’ve worked very hard on building our websites to have a dashboard of listings to push to any market that we wish, including the Japanese market and more recently the South Korean market,” said Mr. Roberts at a Jan. 24 press briefing.

In line with its goal to help investors find properties faster and make smarter and bigger investments, the prop-tech company registered approximately $90 million worth of properties in Southeast Asia and partnered with over 70 companies around the world.

Mr. Roberts also noted key differences between its two main markets: around 90% of Japanese clients are property investors who look into yield and return of investment, while South Korean clients are either retirees, second home seekers, or investors.

“This means Japanese clients are more conservative and can take four to six months to conclude a Philippine property transaction. Accessibility to transport is a large element for them,” he explained. “Meanwhile, South Korean clients are looking for golf, beach, sun, holidays, and relaxation.”

For both markets, Metro Manila and Cebu are the main areas of interest.

PropertyAccess has been listing Philippine properties for Japan since 2016 and only started doing so for South Korea in the last 18 months. It aims to keep a foothold as one of the top overseas real estate companies in both markets.

In the future, the company will be expanding to Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Australia, Mr. Roberts said.

He also emphasized the role of technology in real estate, with proptech likely pushing property securitization and property virtualization through technologies like Al, machine learning, blockchain, and 3D visualization over the next decade.

“Smart contracts, for example, can facilitate between a buyer and seller without a middleman. It allows tokenization of a property, or dividing shares among many shareholders,” he said.

For the short term, Mr. Roberts said his outlook for the Philippine real estate market is largely positive.

“This year there will be a number of property launches from a number of large developers, so we feel the next 2 years will be quite good for Philippine properties.”