Before new rules on listings take effect in October, Dubai’s property portals are raising their advertising rates.
“The hikes have been by 3-4x times of what ad listings were just last week,” said Mohammad Imran Khan of Atomic Properties, an estate agent. “This definitely impacts our business in terms of lead generation.”
Sources confirm that some of the leading property listing portals have increased rates, or are planning to within days. Recent changes in the way properties can be advertised in Dubai have strengthened the hands of portals.
Last week, Dubai Land Department issued directives limiting the number of brokers/agencies who can represent and list any particular property (typically those sold in the secondary market). From October, any such listing can only have a maximum of three agents associated with any transaction.
These listings will have to feature permits that need to be taken in advance from the Land Department. The changes will effectively put a halt to more than three agents trying to sell a particular property. And once sold, all listings will need to be removed ASAP.
“The Dubai authorities are bringing in greater transparency to the marketing and sale of property,” said an estate agent. “Requiring prior permits and, now, capping the agents per property is part of the changes.”
It was a given that property portals would hike their ad rates after this. This was because the number of listings by multiple brokers would have taken a hit after the new rules. So, portals would have had to compensate by charging more per listing. But brokers were expecting that to happen only by next month.
Khan stated, “We are currently negotiating with portals to provide some flexibility. “They had earlier so that we could keep providing for our clients and attracting investment to the real estate industry. Our margins would be squeezed by these increases because the conversion rate from leads is already quite low. We anticipate a successful compromise.
