The State of Real Estate: Highlights from Bayut’s Second Webinar
After the first, highly successful session of our webinar series, The State of Real Estate, where we had close to 100% engagement from over a thousand attendees, we are now proud to present the highlights from the second session of the series!
We have launched this webinar series to facilitate regular, transparent communication with our clients and partners and help the community to stay strong and positive during these uncertain times. The COVID-19 outbreak in the UAE has brought many changes to our society as well as the real estate industry and our aim with the Bayut Webinar series is to help property agencies and brokerages navigate through this challenging period together and come out stronger and better prepared.
Take a look at the highlights from the second session of the Bayut Webinar held on 14 April 2020 or watch the complete webinar in the video below.
Who was part of Bayut’s second webinar?
For the second session of the Bayut Webinar, we once again welcomed leading figures from UAE’s brokerage industry to discuss how the real estate community can stay connected with prospective buyers and tenants using various marketing channels while abiding by the required social distancing measures in the UAE.
Our CEO, Haider Ali Khan, was the main speaker at the Bayut Webinar, while the inimitable Spencer Lodge, an influential entrepreneur, author and business expert, moderated the session.
The panel discussion featured industry experts including Neema Kataria, Managing Partner at Hunt and Harris, Luke Remington, Managing Director at haus and haus, and Richard Waind, Managing Director at Betterhomes.
Taking a Holistic Approach to Digital Marketing
The Bayut Webinar began with our CEO, Haider Ali Khan, sharing his insights on the importance of engaging audiences using a robust 360 marketing strategy, especially in this challenging period.
He elaborated on how the UAE’s unique demographic – which is largely made up of expatriates – requires an integrated marketing strategy that captures the attention of prospective buyers and tenants through multiple channels. He also stressed the importance of being part of the customer’s journey through multiple touchpoints, not just when they are actively looking to buy or rent property, but also staying relevant before and after their property related needs are met. This, he said, is done by having a broad, 360° view on marketing, paying close attention to lead attribution and providing content of value to your customers.
Haider also touched on how Bayut uses this holistic approach to digital marketing to extend our reach and engages end-users through multiple social media channels, the MyBayut blog, the Area, Building and School Guides, eventually guiding them to the property listings and ads by our clients, who in turn, gain exposure with a wide pool of property seekers in the UAE. Haider elaborated how Bayut was able to attract a total of 1.7 million unique visitors in the last 30 days alone, using this well-planned strategy. You can discover more about our unique content offerings in our guide to Bayut and our products.
Panel Discussion: Staying positive and productive during the COVID-19 pandemic
The second part of the Bayut Webinar featured a panel discussion with well-known figures from the UAE’s brokerage community. The discussion was focussed on staying resilient and positive during this difficult time, along with the best practices for real estate agents and brokers to ensure business continuity in the UAE market.
The panellists shared practical tips and useful advice for real estate agents to thrive and seize opportunities while maintaining the social distancing measures being implemented across the UAE.
Building client relationships is key during this period
All three panellists talked at length about the importance of building relationships with potential leads right now. They highlighted the fact that there will be a number of prospective customers browsing properties who will want to buy or rent in the near future, once the social distancing measures ease. Luke Remington also suggested that agents should contact their buyers and tenants, even if it’s simply to check on them and reassure their clients that they can always reach out to the agent or broker.
Neema Kataria also reaffirmed this, saying, “We are all about building relationships right now. So even if we don’t win [the clients] now, we are going to win them in the future. So, it’s about keeping in regular contact with them, providing them with great opportunities as and when they arrive. And that’s also done through making sure we keep in contact with our sellers and making sure we touch base with them on a very regular basis to see if there’s any movement there, and to get it at the right price and the right time. Once you get that, you’re always going to win the buyer.”
Nurturing relationships with these people and identifying potential clients is a great opportunity for brokers right now, especially since most people are homebound and will have time to talk. This ensures that agents will have a pipeline of leads to work on, once the restrictions on movement are lifted.
Luke Remington also advised agents and brokers to take this time to improve their skills and knowledge of the market, with courses on sales training or even sales role play with colleagues.
The panellists also mentioned the importance of staying positive during this period, especially with social distancing measures in place. Richard Waind elaborated on how Betterhomes has introduced initiatives such as virtual wellness committees, book clubs and fitness classes to ensure the mental wellbeing of agents. Neema and Luke also added to these useful tips, saying agents should have a daily action plan to stay motivated and productive as well.
“Have a clear plan and be committed to doing it, ” said Luke, urging agents to use this time productively, learn and ensure they are not wasting the opportunity for self-growth.
The UAE’s real estate market will bounce back eventually
All of the panellists also expressed a positive outlook on the UAE property market. Luke Remington talked about the increase in the LTV ratios for first-time buyers by the Central Bank of the UAE, as a part of the UAE stimulus packages announced in March 2020. Such measures, he says, point to the confidence of the Central Bank, and indicate that property prices are going to bottom out.
With regards to property prices, Luke Remington commented that the UAE real estate market was unlikely to experience a huge drop but instead could see a slight correction, as prices have already become affordable over the last decade. He also mentioned, “Going back to January and February, I actually thought prices in certain communities [in Dubai] were bouncing back. We actually had buyers prepared to pay more than they were on the market for.” This is also reflected in our property market reports for Q1 2020, where we observed that prices in popular neighbourhoods in Dubai were appearing to bottom out, while certain areas also showed signs of recovery.
Richard Waind also noted that while property prices might decrease in the short-term, he maintained an optimistic view for the real estate market in the long run. He said, “I believe that when we come out of this, there will be this desire to get the world going. It might take a little time, but this desire to get the world going will seep into all industries, in all markets. And I do suspect we will see that prices will hold relatively firm on the whole.”
Richard also expects the rental market to bounce back quickly, once the COVID-19 outbreak stabilises, while also anticipating that the sales segment might take slightly longer to recover. He stressed that in the meantime, there also will be plenty of opportunities for good brokers, as there will be people wanting to liquidate their assets and buyers looking to take advantage of favourable prices and interest rates.
The panellists also touched on how the real estate industry has come together during this challenging time to support each other by sharing ideas and knowledge. The panellists were also in agreement that improving these communication channels, especially between agencies, can help raise the standard of real estate services in the UAE, too.
That concludes the highlights from the second session of the Bayut Webinar, The State of Real Estate! We hope these insights from the experts in our real estate webinar can help you make the most of the current situation and plan ahead.
You can also read the highlights from the first session of the Bayut Webinar, to learn more about the new virtual tools we are introducing to help our clients and end-users. You can also find out the different features on Bayut that facilitate virtual property search in the UAE.
We also recommend reading up on our Dubai property market report and Abu Dhabi real estate analysis for Q1 2020, to learn more about which residential areas prospective buyers and tenants are interested in, currently.
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