Product and Services Roundup: Quinto Andar, Emlakjet, Lifull HOME's, Trade Me

We have a big Product Roundup for you this week, with entrants from just about every corner of the world...

Latin America: Quinto Andar adds AI assistant as part of new product suite

QuintoAndar has unveiled a new ecosystem for real estate agencies and launched Domi, an AI-powered customer service solution.

Domi integrates with WhatsApp, portals and CRM systems, allowing it to act as a sales assistant, engage with prospective customers, recommend properties, qualify leads, schedule visits and re-engage cold contacts.

Bernardo Dorigo, General Manager of QuintoAndar for Business, said:

"Domi was built to address a very tangible challenge for real estate agencies: often, the opportunity is there, but teams cannot keep up with every customer interaction at the necessary speed. AI helps scale this work, ensuring that more leads are served and followed up, while brokers can focus on relationships and negotiations.

"Our goal is to build an ecosystem where everyone can thrive. Making a real impact on the market means creating solutions in close partnership with its key players: real estate agencies. QuintoAndar for Business is our contribution to driving this sector forward, combining technology and opportunities so these professionals can operate at their best and reach new levels of growth."

Quinto Andar Group operates in Brazil (headquarters), Argentina (Zonaprop) , Ecuador (Plusvalía), Panama (Compreoalquile), Peru (Urbania and Adondevivir) and Mexico (Inmuebles24 and Vivanuncios).

The Group recently appointed Jaime Macaya as Vice President (VP) and General Manager for Latin America. Macaya will head up non-Brazilian operations.

Asia: Lifull HOME's partners with Rakuten Bank for rental financing

Lifull HOME’s has entered a partnership with Rakuten Bank to offer financing solutions for tenants looking to cover their initial rental costs.

The offer extends to all rental properties on Lifull's marketplace.

According to a press release, the 'New Life Expenses Support' offer "reduces the burden of rising rent and initial costs" and allows tenants to pay in instalments.

Due to recent price increases and soaring rents, particularly in urban areas, initial rental costs such as security deposits and key money have skyrocketed. These high initial costs are creating challenges in the housing search process, such as people giving up on moving altogether or having to compromise on their desired conditions.

This program addresses the challenge of increasing initial rental costs due to rising prices and rents by enabling installment payments for initial costs for all properties listed on "LIFULL HOME'S Rental," including those that do not accept credit card payments.

Yohei Matsushita, Project Manager at LIFULL, said:

"With the desire to prevent people from giving up on their ideal home due to lack of funds and to help them start their new life with a smile, we have planned this program as an initiative to address the challenges of finding a place to live. This partnership with Rakuten Bank allows us to offer installment payment options for initial costs for all properties listed on LIFULL HOME'S, including those that do not accept card payments."

Dubizzle Group introduces AI-powered property search for Bayut

Bayut is reimagining how property seekers find their next home by launching the first AI-powered, conversational search experience in the UAE.

The new AI-powered experience enables UAE property seekers to describe their ideal home in natural language, refine their requirements conversationally and discover relevant listings more intuitively. Users can converse with the system and refine their experience to include follow-up prompts, adjusting their preferred location, budget, property features or lifestyle requirements—all without needing to start their search again.

Muneeb Farrukh, VP of Product at Bayut, said:

“Property search is deeply personal. People do not necessarily think about their next home as a series of filters; they think about the lifestyle they want, the features that matter to them and the compromises they are willing to make. AI Search allows users to express those requirements naturally and continue refining them as they explore.

“This is also part of a much bigger technology journey for Bayut. From TruEstimate™ and BayutGPT to bringing property search into ChatGPT, we have been steadily developing practical applications of AI that solve real consumer needs. Our focus is not on using AI for the sake of it, but on applying it purposefully to make property decisions simpler, more personalised and better informed.”

North America: Realtor.ca updates terms to allow agents to use certain AIs and Virtual Staging features on listings

Canada's Data Distribution Facility (DDF) has updated its rules around how participants may use artificial intelligence, augmented reality and virtual staging tools, with Realtor.ca—which uses the DDF—to update its own guidelines on how agents in Canada use AI.

The new rules allow a user to choose to view an enhanced or altered version of listing content, called an “Augmentation.” The original listing content must remain unchanged and available.

An Augmentation is a visual, informational or interactive enhancement shown using technology. Examples include virtual staging; showing different paint colours or décor; and renovation visualisations.

As part of the new guidelines, original content must be shown first and by default, users must opt in to see augmented material, and augmentations should be presented as a "temporary, user-controlled overlay or alternate view that does not change the underlying content".

Additionally, augmentations must be clearly labelled, and watermarks and other branding attributes must remain visible and accurate. Meanwhile, DDF listing content cannot be used to train any AI systems.

Oceania: Trade Me introduces AI search

New Zealand's leading classifieds platform Trade Me has introduced AI search for property.

Announcing the launch on LinkedIn, Trade Me said:

No filters, no drop-downs. AI Search understands what buyers want through simple conversation, and finds them the right properties faster. Whether a buyer types or speaks "3 bedrooms, a big backyard, a pool, and a sun-facing deck", AI Search processes the natural prompt instantly.

What does that mean for you? Your listings get matched faster with buyers already looking for exactly what you're selling, delivering more genuine enquiries.

The ad (featuring Trademe's Jason Hussey) was funny - watch it on LinkedIn here.

Europe: Emlakjet improves its real estate search with new tools

Users can now use Emlakjet's real estate marketplace to search for properties by rental yield, payback period, and overall investment score.

Emlakjet, which recently unified under Endeska's umbrella operation, says the updates reflect data integrations including price changes over time, rent multipliers and market conditions, among other data points.

The investment score sorting feature jointly evaluates price movements in the area where the property is located, the supply-demand balance, and location data. With this method, listings
considered to have higher investment potential can be ranked first among homes in the same price range.

The payback period option is based on the relationship between the property's sale price and its estimated rental income. The calculation determines approximately how many years it would take for the investment to be recouped through rental income, allowing listings with shorter amortisation periods to appear higher in the results.

Finally, rental yield compares estimated rental income against sale price, enabling users aiming to generate regular rental income to view homes with higher expected returns more quickly.