REPORT

AI DRIVEN ‘SUPERAGENT’

In conversation with Christophe de Rassenfosse, Chief Product Officer at Property Finder

When did Property Finder decide to introduce the ‘SuperAgent’ and why do you think this was a necessary addition for the company? At Property Finder, we are working hard to empower people in their home search journey. People use Property Finder to make two of the most important decisions in their lives: first - where they live and second - to find a property they can rent or buy. We believe both of these decisions can be made more efficiently with data and top performing agents, which is how the idea to launch SuperAgent came into play.

In line with our goal of creating a hassle-free home finding experience for our customers and driving agents to make this journey seamless for the home seeker, we introduced SuperAgent to reward agents that are client obsessed. The label SuperAgent is granted by an AI driven ranking system, powered by an in-house data platform - Agent Data Assistant (ADA).

With SuperAgent we seek to make this power available and accessible to the millions of individuals that are using Property finder every month, it enriches the home seekers’ journey with transparency and unbiased information. The new launch also aims to propel brokerage real-time digital experience, enriching home-finding journeys in GCC.

Tell us about the features of the ‘SuperAgent’? How does Agent Data Assistant assist the SuperAgent? SuperAgent is the MENA region’s first artificial intelligence driven ranking system, powered by an in-house data platform - Agent Data Assistant (ADA). Custom-developed by Property Finder, the new system uses millions of data points and aims to help home-seekers find the most responsive agents with up-to-date and improved knowledge of the properties and the community.

Property Finder has a gold mine of information with the millions of units that are advertised on our site, we engage our audience with almost all the agents in the UAE. Through ADA we researched quality pattern by combining agent responsiveness, quality of property listings, and agent reports, to identify top-performing ones as SuperAgents. ADA adds a layer of AI algorithm to the analytics workflow, surfacing quality scores, and rewarding the best-in-class agents for

market-leading consumer experiences, thereby improving customer experience, and establishing trustworthy relationships.

The agent becomes a SuperAgent at Property Finder once they meet the guidelines of excellence and offer high-quality services to the customers. SuperAgents are property seeker obsessed, always looking to provide the best quality property listing and respond faster than any other agents to the home seeker’s needs. Choosing a super-qualified agent is a 100% automated process that depends on the individual agent’s performance; It’s not something a client can buy, it’s just data-based decisions to guarantee a real SuperAgent.

What are the frameworks that the ADA uses to rank each real estate agent? ADA is an in-house data assistant platform that is supporting agents to consistently be the top performers. It is an independent algorithm built to identify agents that are property seeker obsessed, always looking to provide the best quality property listing and respond faster than any other agents to the home seeker’s needs.

Based on certain parameters that define response rate, response time, quality of listings, and the number of removed listings from consumer reports, ADA creates a score for all agents which is then used to promote the best-qualified agents in the market higher in the Property Finder’s search ranking to ensure that property seekers are directed towards high-quality listings from highly responsive agents.

Prior to the use of the SuperAgent - how did Property Finder identify the best real estate agents? Since its launch in 2006, Property Finder has always been at the forefront of driving change in the real estate sector through transparency and adoption of new technologies. Earlier we had an option to get ‘verified’ as the best agent on our Property Finder portal – which used to help ‘Verified Agents’ get more exposure and more leads on the portal than their non-verified peers. We, at Property Finder, always put emphasis on quality listings and agent profiles and therefore recognise and promote agents who go the extra mile. Before the launch of SuperAgent, we gave verified agents the opportunity to feature on one of the most visited sections of our website propertyfinder. ae – the Find Agent section.

The Find Agent section provides the professional directory of verified, bestin-class and active real estate agents in the UAE.

How have Real Estate Agencies reacted to the addition of the ‘SuperAgent’? What are the benefits they gain from being a part of the SuperAgent list? The launch of SuperAgent has received an overwhelming response from other real estate agencies and developers. Being a part of the list allows them to be quickly identified by the property seekers and investors looking for credible leads. With SuperAgent, Property Finder is looking to increase trust between the property seekers and the agents.

Through the launch of this pioneering system, Property Finder aspires to raise the bar in the real estate industry, driving agents towards creating an improved experience for home seekers. Ensuring that home seekers enjoy a seamless, hassle-free home-finding journey, the ecosystem is designed to help them identify high-quality listings with the agents who respond to their queries in time.

RESIDENTIAL RENTS IN DUBAI INCREASE AT THE FASTEST RATE SINCE LATE 2014, SAYS CBRE

The total volume of transactions in Dubai’s residential market reached 5,542 in May 2022, up 33.0% from a year earlier. Over this period, offplan sales increased by 55.4% and secondary market sales by 18.0%. Total transaction volumes in the year to date to May 2022 reached 30,903, this is the highest total recorded since 2009, over this period. Average prices increased by 10.9% in the year to May 2022. Over this period, average apartment prices increased by 9.6% and average villa prices by 19.8%. As at May 2022, average apartment prices in Dubai stood at AED 1,102 per square foot and average villa prices stood at AED 1,307 per square foot. Compared to the highs witnessed in late 2014, these rates per square foot are 25.9% and 9.5% below the peak, for apartments and villas respectively. In the apartments segment of the market, Downtown Dubai recorded the highest average sales rate per square foot at AED 2,045. Whereas in the villas segment of the market, Palm Jumeirah recorded the highest average sales rate per square foot at AED 3,207. Average rents in the 12 months to May 2022 have increased by 19.1%, with average apartment and villa rents increasing by 18.3% and 24.3% respectively. As at May 2022, average apartment and villa rents stood at AED 83,485 and AED 249,677 per annum respectively.

In the rental market, the highest average annual apartment and villa rents respectively were found in Palm Jumeirah, where asking rents on average were AED 213,761, and in Al Barari, where asking rents on average were AED 874,171.

Taimur Khan, Head of Research – MENA at CBRE in Dubai, comments:

“Transaction activity in Dubai’s residential market continues to remain on a strong footing, with total transactions volumes in the year to date to May 2022 reaching 30,903, the highest total recorded since 2009. Price growth has also remained robust, despite the rate of growth slowing marginally from a month earlier, where average sales prices grew by 10.9% in the 12 months to May 2022. The rate of growth for rents has continued to increase on a year-on-year basis, where in the year to May 2022 average rents increased by 19.1%, up from 16.2% recorded a month earlier, this is the fastest rate of growth since October 2014.”

“AVERAGE RENTS IN THE 12 MONTHS TO MAY 2022 HAVE INCREASED BY 19.1%, WITH AVERAGE APARTMENT AND VILLA RENTS INCREASING BY 18.3% AND 24.3% RESPECTIVELY.”