Digital Sharing Economy Changing Face of Thai Real Estate

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The pandemic saw a rapid increase in the digitalisation of Thai real estate. As a result, developers have been urged to dig deeper into dynamic data; not only to pivot sales tactics, but to adapt to the tough market conditions in Bangkok’s property sector.

Brennan Campbell, CEO of online retail group FazWaz, states; “big data is becoming essential tools for developers or projects to better take a forward look for new project unit configurations, pricing strategies and even ways to segment or remarket slow selling inventory.”

With the launch of FazWaz’s next-generation “Insights” app, he goes on to further say “our focused segments for the app are real estate developers, institutional investors, banks, and brokers. Over a longer term, we look to demonstrate data to the entire property food-stream including consumers”.

The firm has invested over THB15 million in the app’s development. Moreover, data within the app is unique and is not accessible in the standard market real estate research. This is due to FazWaz’s long-term data collection, spanning 5 years in their proptech focused online marketplace. Thus, users can tap into an extensive base of historical and real-time data.

At the head of the Insights, data project is James Corbin-Mckenzie. He notes, “in a country with a population of 69 million and mobile phone penetration of nearly 3 out of every 4 people, the answer for developers is in the palm of their hands. Tag onto that, as minimum supply and demand soften, there is increasingly a shift from real estate product-based sales to re-focus on the customers.

Taking this approach into an app allows us to push engagement to customers, more easily transition or qualify leads and measure performance metrics via DAU (daily active users). Data doesn’t lie and that’s fundamental to getting results in a downturn”.

COVID-19 has interfered greatly in project sales that were formerly focused in high-profile shopping mall displays, or brick and mortar vacant showrooms waiting for leads. Campbell observes, “online condo sales have sharply risen with every transaction element now doing digital. Be it online tours, virtual data rooms (VDR’s) for due diligence, or dynamic priced auctions”.

Looking ahead for the Thai real estate sector, internet searches and transaction statistics suggest a significant increase in resort property markets such as Hua Hin. As the pandemic continues, market shifts as a result of urban flight and the propensity for domestic buyers to purchase 2nd homes in lifestyle destinations will become more evident.

Next on FazWaz’s agenda in terms of prop tech innovation is an automated valuation model (AVM). Aimed at challenging Thailand’s legacy valuation system, it will have a strong focus on financial institutions.