Real estate developers and agents must adapt to changing consumer habits in the Philippines as millennials move in. Home buyers are now utilizing property portals during their search for a new home, disrupting one of the country’s last remaining offline-focused industries.

Dot Property Philippines recorded more than one million visits in both May and June of this year, highlighting the public’s willingness to look for a new home online.

Millennials in particular are leading this shift. More than 60 percent of property searches on the Dot Property Philippines site in June 2018 came from users aged 25 to 36.

Millennials, who already comprise the majority of the Philippine workforce today, will account for 70 percent of the labor force by 2030.

“The real estate industry is moving online. This is a global trend and Filipinos have been quick to join, especially millennials,” Tanya Peralta-Yu, country manager for Dot Property Philippines, said.

“More Filipino home buyers, both domestically as well as those overseas, are now using online property portals. That’s because they are quicker and easier to navigate than offline methods. Portals also offer home seekers a better selection of homes to choose from,” she said.

Not simply browsing

Dot Property Philippines users aren’t simply “window shopping,” but are willing to reach out to a seller directly if they find a property they like. The number of leads (when a person inquires about a specific property) is up significantly this year. Leads coming through Dot Property Philippines rose 33 percent in May and 26 percent in June compared to the same period in 2017.

The company expects both visits and leads to increase during the remainder of the year as the integration of real estate with internet and social media provides people with easier access to property listings.

There are now 67 million internet users in the Philippines but a survey from Hootsuite found that many more Filipinos will gain online access in the years to come.

Peralta-Yu points out that property portals will continue to grow with more people coming online and an increase in millennial spending power.

“We’re only scratching the surface of what’s possible. Searching online for property was the first step, but we can see that Filipinos are not simply browsing or window shopping. They are reaching out to and negotiating with sellers whenever they see a property that they like on Dot Property Philippines,” she explains.

Building partnerships

In addition to recording all-time high in website visits, the company enjoyed a significant increase in members of its agent network. The number of agents partnering with Dot Property Philippines grew by 92 percent in June.

Dot Property Philippines recently added home listings in the Philippines from the Mitula Group, its parent company, to the website. The merging of the two sites empowers Filipino home buyers with even more choices when trying to find the ideal home.

Mitula Group receives 85 million visits per month across 100 vertical search sites and 10 property portals under the Dot Property banner in more than 50 countries.

And to support more than property searches, Dot Property Philippines is teaming with the Bank of the Philippines Islands (BPI). The properties for sale under Dot Property are exclusively promoted on BPI’s Housing Loans webpage along with a mortgage calculator for the customer’s convenience.

BPI’s Housing Loans options are promoted on Dot Property’s website. There are also special home loan offers that are not available on other property portals.

“We are so much more than a website with property for sale. For agents and developers, Dot Property Philippines is the partner who empowers them with the ability to reach more potential home buyers. For users, we are the place where they can easily find the best properties at the best price. These are exciting times for the Filipino real estate sector and we’re proud to be at the forefront of this evolution,” Peralta-Yu said.

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