Proptech Platform Business Acceleration Pandemic

One of the sectors whose growth was disrupted during the pandemic was the property sector. However, entering the end of 2020, conditions are claimed to have started to improve, coupled with the increasing number of requests from users. A number of property technology platforms (proptech) optimistic that this year's conditions will be better.

"At the beginning of the pandemic, we experienced problems. But at the end of 2020, things got better, [starting] around September 2020 to be exact," said RoomME Co-Founder & CEO Glen Ramersan.

Rumah123 Country Manager Maria Manik said, "Overall Q-on-Q March 2020-March 2021 the trend for rent and sale is still quite consistent."

While Rentfix noted a surge in demand in the warehousing rental segment. The demand for warehousing in the commercial category is higher than in other categories in line with the increasing demand in retail online.

"We remain optimistic that in 2021 the demand for apartments and other properties will increase," said Rentfix CEO Effendy Tanuwidjaja.

The pandemic "forced" the adoption of technology solutions

Still dominant developer and agents using traditional ways to promote their properties are seen as barriers to technology adoption in this sector. Platform strategy proptech to accelerate business growth is to educate partners and users.

"Although most of our partners are those who are not very familiar with technology and the use of applications in particular, due to the pandemic they are 'forced' to be able to use and familiarize themselves with the application. RoomME, said Glenn.

Additional activities, such as participating in property exhibitions and talkshow online properties are claimed to be able to increase the number of users and partners who adopt technology solutions. Consumers have started to feel the benefits of convenience in finding, renting, buying, or selling properties through digital platforms.

"Changes from consumers related to rental and buying and selling of property on Rentfix during the pandemic are that people are increasingly adapting to technology using digital platforms in finding property needs. Rentfix also records that there are 100 thousand user visits per year 2020. [..] A number of technology property portals, either rent or sale or purchase proptech, inform the surge of visitors on their site," said Effendy.

For Rumah123, where most of their users are developers and agents, everything related to property will require continuous education. The education provided also takes various forms, including in the form of media articles.

"In addition, we have also held several online events since the pandemic, such as IG live, webinars and online talk shows that are attractively packaged and invite speakers from property experts, financial advisor / planner to an influencer or YouTubers," said Maria.

Proptech user trends

Data owned by the proptech platform reveals that most Indonesians still prefer renting and buying and selling houses over apartments.

On one last year, home.com noted that the apartment price index, especially in Jabodetabek, experienced a decline. The national apartment price index in Q1 2021 decreased by 5,3% compared to the same period the previous year.

In comparison, the landed house price index still experienced a slight increase of 0.5% YoY.

"Looking at the supply index of apartment listings for sale which is also starting to decline, it can be assumed that the number of apartment units is currently at its peak for some time to come. Seeing the slowdown and even the decline in apartment prices, it is natural for property players to try to maximize income from rentals, especially through a platform that can maximize rental inventory occupancy," said Rumah.com Consumer Marketing Manager Imam Wiratmadja.

For the past 1 year, house searches are still the main choice, which is 88% of the total searches on Rumah123. While the next sequence is about 7% land, 3% apartments and 2% commercial. If seen from YoY, the volume of search for houses increased by around 3%, apartments decreased by about 2%, and for land and commercial there was a decrease that was not too significant.

Meanwhile, Rentfix noted that although the demand for apartment rentals is currently experiencing a decline, it is still there.

"Some things that will later become the main drivers that will be able to strengthen the power of renting and buying and selling property are, increasing trust and confidence (confident) markets, public safety, and encourage better investment opportunities. This will apply to all property sectors, both residential and commercial," said Effendy.

Meanwhile, for platforms like RoomME, which perform strict curation of cost/cost properties,co-living, the house is still the choice of consumers. In addition to a much more affordable price, the family culture at home makes it much more popular.

"Residents who are looking for boarding houses usually look for convenience which you will never get in an apartment. Meanwhile, residents who are looking for apartments are usually looking for privacy, which is lacking in the boarding house," said Glen.