Propertyfinder.ae Supports Development of the Real Estate Industry

Buyer and Industry shift to online resources contributes to 40% revenue increase for portal in last year. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) October 20, 2010 - Propertyfinder.ae, the UAE's leading property portal and multi-faceted industry tool, has strengthened its commitment to the positive development of the real estate industry through various changes to its management structure and online platform - providing new tools to aid research for both industry and consumer demographics - which has led to a doubling in both agents and property listings over the last 12 months.

The portal posted a 40 per cent increase in revenue in the last year due to a dramatic online shift that saw both the real estate community as well as consumers utilize online tools to list and sell commercial and residential properties.

"Traffic to our site increased by 106% and this significant increase in visitors demonstrates that the market now relies heavily on online portals such as propertyfinder.ae. Agents are committing more of their marketing budgets into online services as the return on investment and target market reach is much larger. We have the largest database in the country, which means that we can offer the most comprehensive and up to date information available.

"The recession has had some positive impacts on the local market in terms of a noticeable increase in transparency. Brokers have to provide better information for clients and prices are now dictated far more by the natural shifts of supply and demand," said Michael Lahyani, CEO of propertyfinder.ae.

The portal's 'Market Price Live' is the only tool available in the country that provides almost real-time price updates for the UAE property market. It details average prices for properties around the UAE based on property type, neighborhood, size and building so that users can research properties and obtain relevant and useful information.

Renan Bourdeau, who has been with the portal since its launch and has recently been appointed Managing Director, said; "Agents now understand the importance of investing time and efforts in handling their online presence and are starting to see the real results of their work. In this respect and opposed to same time last year, it is now widely accepted by the industry that no one can survive without a proper online marketing strategy."

"We are witnessing a maturation of the local market. The methods and quality of service is starting to reflect those of more developed markets such as Europe. Through strategic research and training the industry is changing the way it conducts business with consumers, and propertyfinder.ae is very much a part of this as we support brokers with training to improve online services, which in turn leads to better and more comprehensive information being available to buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants."

To further support the key industry members propertyfinder.ae launched its Awards Programme in June this year. The function of the monthly awards is to recognize the key agents who achieve a minimum of 100 qualified email leads in the month. The initial awards saw six agents enter the new 'Century Club' and over the last four months brokers have taken their services to the next level and 20 agents will be awarded this month.

"The fact that the numbers of awards has increased so quickly demonstrates that agents have paid more attention to the quality of listings they are posting online and are now harvesting the fruits of their efforts. By delivering high quality and more comprehensive listings with good photos and accurate descriptions, the agents generate qualified leads and this is yet another industry barometer that indicates positive evolution within the property sector," added Bourdeau.

The portal, celebrating its three year anniversary in October, reports that in the last 12 months its unique visitors have risen by 146 percent and generated three time more leads to agents listing on propertyfidner.ae.

"We will continue to expand our portfolio of online and industry services to maintain our position as a leading property resource. We are constantly exploring different ways to improve the industry standards and we are now looking at the powerful social media platform to maximize the way we communicate with our target demographics," added Lahyani.

About propertyfinder.ae
Propertyfinder.ae is the number one dedicated property portal in the UAE. Our focus is to successfully join buyers and renters with sellers and letters in both English and Arabic. We list properties in residential and commercial sectors from accredited and RERA compliant agents and brokerages. The propertyfinder.ae team manages its members and browsers in an efficient manner to ensure that best practices are respected with a maximum of transparency. Propertyfinder.ae powers the real estate section for major portals such as MSN Arabia and Expatwoman.com as an extension of our endorsement and reach in the Middle East. We are the choice of reference web site for the real estate industry when it comes to online property listings. Propertyfinder.ae is audited by AC Nielsen and is a registered entity in TECOM.

Please visit the website at www.propertyfinder.ae

For media information and enquiries please contact:
Charlie Akielan
SEPT PR
Email: charlie ( @ ) septpr dot com
Tel: 04 705 0355

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