AMID THE challenges and uncertainties brought about by the pandemic, leading real estate platform Lamudi is gearing up for expansion. In its seventh year in the industry, the team plans to double its Philippine team and cater better to the country’s growing and recovering real estate market.
Kenneth Stern, Lamudi Philippines’ CEO, said that he looks forward to 2021, as the year brings fresh new opportunities for achieving unprecedented growth amid the crisis. Stern joined the group in September 2020 at the height of the pandemic.
“We set new aggressive targets that will continue to raise the bar for what is possible,” he said.
Stern added that Lamudi Philippines will be focusing on the “right people, right leaders, and the right culture” as the company moves to augment its workforce and business operations.
Foundation for Expansion
Lamudi’s new parent company offers a stable backing for its expansion plans. It was announced in May last year that EMPG, one of the leading digital classifieds groups in the Middle East-North America, South Asia and Southeast Asia regions, acquired Lamudi Global, covering ventures in the Philippines, Indonesia and Mexico.
The digital classifieds giant owns and operates various online marketplaces, including Bayut in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Zameen in Pakistan, Bproperty.com in Bangladesh, Mubawab in Morocco and Tunisia, and Kaidee in Thailand.
Similarly, it owns and operates Dubizzle in the UAE, OLX Pakistan, OLX Egypt, and OLX Lebanon. EMPG’s acquisition of OLX raised its valuation to $1 billion.
The acquisition by a unicorn company allows Lamudi to learn from EMPG’s knowledge and expertise in the global market. This has helped Lamudi seize opportunities in overseas demand while continuing to strengthen their presence in the Philippine real estate market.
According to Lamudi’s trend report, Hotspots Unwrapped: 2020’s Most Popular Locations, Singapore, Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh drove the strongest overseas interest in Philippine properties in 2020.
The report added that the most active property market segment was the millennials. The age bracket of 25 to 34 represented the highest number of pageviews, accounting for 30.58 percent. The most motivated, on the other hand, were the generations older, 45 to 54, fueling the greatest number of leads, 28.60 percent.
Lamudi works on seizing opportunities in the overseas market and reaching more property buyers and sellers in the Philippines, as it is backed with EMPG’s financial resources and industry expertise.
Collaborations with
real estate giants
More than the support of its parent company, Lamudi draws its strength from the partnerships it has forged with property developers.
Recently, the portal has renewed its partnership agreement with real estate giant Robinsons Land Corporation (RLC). Leveraging Lamudi’s monthly pageviews of up to 7 million, the partnership will bring unparalleled exposure and reach to RLC Residences, the consolidation of RLC’s three divisions–Residences, Luxuria, and Communities–into “a single and meaningful brand.”
Last year, Lamudi introduced a webinar series featuring RLC’s key leaders. In June, Arch. Henry L. Yap, Senior Vice President and Business Unit General Manager of RLC Residences, talked about real estate as a solid investment, giving encouraging advice to buyers. RLC also graced Lamudi’s online events. Architect Yap shared his journey as a real estate professional for On the House: Small Talk with Big Bosses.
Despite the challenges of the health crisis, Lamudi managed to provide a comprehensive campaign and maintain a strong relationship with its partner developers. The team is confident that its expansion plan will succeed, fueled by its ties with real estate giants.
Growth on All Fronts
As the real estate partner turned seven last March, Lamudi has seen the gradual shift to online transactions through the years. In 2016, Lamudi launched its housing fairs; now, in 2021, it is set to host the first and biggest online housing fair in May, featuring a huge network of property developers all over the Philippines — RLC, Aboitizland, Federal Land, Shang Properties, Solar Resources, and Primehomes, to name a few.
This change is testament to how online-first is the move companies make in the new normal, and how property seekers are more active than ever when it comes to online property search. Overcoming obstacles from last year, Lamudi finds more motivation in reaching greater heights.
According to Lamudi data, pageviews declined steeply around the time the enhanced community quarantine policy was implemented in March and April 2020. After understanding what was happening in the market and reviewing strategies, they launched the campaign Modified Enhanced Listing Offer, allowing brokers and agents to post 50 free listings on the platform in an effort to help the industry bounce back.
In the same month, Lamudi saw a 56.76 percent increase in pageviews compared to March. By July, the company was earning back almost 100 percent of its pageviews recorded in January.
Given this promising outlook, Lamudi plans to grow its manpower on all fronts of the business by 2021: It will double its broker sales teams within the first half of 2021, with plans to continue adding more people in the second half of the year as demand continues to grow. Lamudi’s developer sales teams have already started to grow every month, with plans to double by the end of the year. To support the commercial teams, the operations and support teams are also continuously scaling up proportionate to their needs.
Overseas pageviews on Lamudi saw a 17% year-on-year growth in 2020, despite the setbacks brought on by the pandemic. In 2021 so far, overseas pageviews have posted a 20.51% increase in the monthly average compared to 2020, with real estate listings receiving attention from overseas destinations with sizable OFW populations such as Singapore, Dubai, London, and Sydney. With Lamudi’s expansion plans underway, it will have more manpower to address the strong demand from these regions.
