Thailand’s property market set to experience brokerage megashift

by Bill Barnett

It’s clear that Thailand’s real estate sector is expected to undergo a megashift as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and search for a ‘new normal’, if that’s even possible. That said, one of the country’s leading PropTech groups FazWaz says the crisis has only accelerated dynamic charges to the sector that have been bubbling to the surface over the past two years.

“Big data and virtual seamless transactions are recurring trends whose time has come”, according to FazWaz CEO Brennan Campbell.

“The current crisis has created a great wall between property buyers and sellers can easily be demolished through a complete overhaul of the legacy brokerage transaction process. “

FazWaz, who are a PropTech start-up under Thailand’s BOI (Board of Investment) technology development platform has methodically pursued an enhanced big data platform by focusing on creating a forward-looking property transaction model.

Over the next few months the next domino to fall is a new FazWaz product using online data to create dynamic property valuation, which can be used by financial institutions, developers and prospective buyers in obtaining real-time appraisals.

Commenting on the new business model Campbell says that it’s time for reality to bite.

“The old method of real estate valuation in Thailand, that requires an arduous paper chase, walking around neighbourhoods, staring at ‘for sale signs’, and looking back versus looking forward, makes zero sense.”

Big data allows FazWaz to understand dynamic demonstrated trends 24/7 and uses algorithms that can predict future values. Thailand’s shifting property landscape is seeing lines blur between primary and secondary sales. This is magnified even more, given both rely on market valuations as a lever for transactions. A recent FazWaz deep dive into the Phuket real estate sector showed a market value of properties for sale in excess of 100 billion baht.

Lessons learned in the current crisis, that is moving away from traditional brokerage, has prospective buyers taking virtual tours of property (VR) instead of going to show units. VDR (virtual data room) is also becoming a new standard in the transaction process. It has been accelerated into the due diligence process by sheer necessity. Add in the use of big data for AVM (automated valuation model) property valuations is clearly a more accurate methodology given emerging market volatility.

As Thailand’s property sector goes into reopening mode, and the long journey towards recovery, Campbell weighs in with “the new path is one that the industry has not been on before, big data doesn’t sleep, nor do disruptors to the sector. Ultimately PropTech will change the sector in ways you cannot even imagine today.”