After last week's hilariously short product roundup, which needed to be combined with two other roundups to be worth publishing, this week's roundup makes up for last week's lack of updates.
There's something for everyone this week from Europe to the US, Japan, the Middle East, and Australia!
We'll start in Italy...
Spain's market-leading portal Idealista, which also operates as a highly competitive challenger in Italy, has teamed up with real estate franchisor Tecnocasa Group in a strategic partnership to yield commercial opportunities and value-added services for users.
The partnership should become live this year and will allow realtors working in the Tecnocasa and Tecnorete networks will be able to publish listings on Idealista and Casa.it (an Idealista subsidiary) automatically.
Idealista is in a heated head-to-head battle for market leadership with the Italian portal Immobiliare, with recent Similarweb data showing that both portals achieved approximately 35.5 million web visits in April 2024.
Staying in Italy, real estate platform UniCredit SubitoCasa has developed its relationship with former iBuyer and now mortgage brokerage Casavo, in which it recently invested a further €5 million into Casavo to up its stake in the business.
UniCredit SubitoCasa will integrate Casavo's instant, online valuation algorithm into its platform and app, "Buddy".
Further, new value-added services are set to go live in Q2 and Q3.
After significant financial troubles and a "tail-between-the-legs" exit from the iBuying sector last year, Casavo's role as a technological partner to UniCredit SubitoCasa doesn't paint a great picture for the future of a company that raised a Series D round worth €400 million in July 2022.
Is an acquisition on the cards for the beleaguered startup?
Swiss Marketplace Group (SMG) has partnered with Skribble to allow users to sign rental and purchase agreement documents digitally.
Daniel Bruckhoff, Head of Partnerships and Innovation at SMG Real Estate, said:
"In order to best support digitalization in the real estate industry, we provide our customers with comprehensive tools and services.
"The partnership with Skribble is a central step in this effort and we are confident that we will be able to enable our customers to carry out their processes even better—digitally and easily." [Translated from German]
UK challenger and CoStar Group subsidiary OnTheMarket claims it has significantly increased the number of new build homes on its platform, equalling circa 95% of Rightmove's currently listed new build stock.
John Doyle, head of new homes at OnTheMarket, said:
"I’m thrilled that our New Homes division has reached another important milestone and now boasts more developments on the site than ever before. The backing of our advertisers is an incredible endorsement of the direction in which the business is headed.
"It’s an incredibly exciting time for the industry, with the recent acquisition by CoStar Group bringing industry leading global expertise and significant financial firepower to support our journey to become the preferred choice for agents and new homes developers across the country."
Viupik has launched a Digital Twin technology similar to Matterport, whereby users can create 3D likenesses of properties in real-time.
Viupik's product includes realistic videos and 'walking' tours, and also allows virtual refurbishment of properties from editable countertops to furniture choices.
Ramón Gea, founder and CEO at Vipik, said:
"This technological solution presents a differentiating factor with respect to current virtual tours and 360 videos.
"Our Digital Twins provide property data, customization and inspection of property materials, technical data on consumption, electricity, storage capacity, ventilation and air conditioning, and measurements.
"This is information of high value for the buyer or tenant, which increases engagement by 35%." [Translated from Spanish]
Russian horizontal marketplace Avito has launched AI-generated listings on its 'goods' segment. Users uploading products for sale will be able to ask Avito to generate a product description based on the details inputted.
As always, the more details the user adds to the prompt, the more accurate and comprehensive the AI-generated text will be.
However, this product is not yet available in Avito's real estate segment.
American brokerage Redfin has rolled out its AI assistant after a successful beta testing period.
"Ask Redfin" helps users find information including a home’s listing details, local market conditions, nearby amenities, and touring availability.
Findings from the beta showed that 93% of Ask Redfin users came back to the Redfin app within a week, and they used the app near-daily during that period.
Furthermore, 59% of queries users posed to Ask Redfin were about the property they're currently looking at, including questions about square footage, local amenities and home features and the property's condition.
UAE-based real estate marketplace Bayut.com, a subsidiary of the Dubizzle Group, will open a real estate hub in Riyadh.
The hub will act as an office space for local employees and also welcome customers who want to buy, sell or rent properties in Saudi Arabia.
House-hunting proptech SweetcHome has launched in Dubai, with an AI-powered matchmaking technology and a further 'home-swap' service.
SweetcHome's core matchmaking product lets tenants who are unsatisfied with their housing arrangements swap homes with similarly dissatisfied tenants, using AI to create automated recommendations.
AtHome, Japan's largest commercial rentals portal in Japan, has upgraded its search function to recognise keywords and sort listings accordingly.
AtHome's AI will show search results sorted, in descending order, according to the degree of matching to keywords and similar terms.
A press release said:
"We have introduced this function to the rental store search page in order to support the first step of starting a new business. In the future, we will introduce this function to other categories and contribute to users’ comfortable search for properties."
Australian real estate platform Homely has renewed its partnerships with several agencies among a handful of new advertising agreements with high-growth agencies on its membership and advertising program, Homely Plus Uplift.
Jason Spencer, CEO and co-founder at Homely.com.au, said:
"The continued support of some of the best real estate brands in the country demonstrates that our strategy is effective and the value we offer is welcomed by the industry."
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