Following the Movement Control Order (MCO) announced due to COVID-19 pandemic, Malaysians have been ordered to remain in our homes from 18-March to 14-Apr to curb further outbreaks. Since then, real estate agents have been experiencing a sharp decline of inquiry calls and requests for property viewing, either for purchase or rent.
According to analysts, there will be disruptions in both residential and commercial transaction as most property buyers and sellers would adopt a “wait-and-see” approach during this critical period. In addition, there will be a need for property investors and owners who are overleveraged or need a cash injection to quickly sell their properties causing an oversupply.
To provide you the support you need to tide through these challenging times, we have launched 2 rounds of relief initiatives to our agent community.
- GuruCares Initiatives for Agent Partners – launched 1 April 2020, valid until 31 May 2020
- GuruCares Initiative: MCO Extension Edition – launched 20 April 2020, valid until 4 May 2020
- Extended GuruCares Initiative – launched 6 April 2020, valid until 31 May 2020
While you #dudukrumah and practice social distancing, agent partners must use this time wisely to research market insights to plan for marketing activities that cater to the long-term consumer behavior changes.
A Different View
Amidst the slowdown, data extracted from PropertyGuru.com.my paints a different picture!
Based on web traffic report from the recent 3 months, property seekers are still actively engaging on our portal with average first-time page visits of circa 3 million users per month from Jan-Mar 2020.
Below chart shows comparison of Returning Visitors (33.6%) and New Visitors (66.4%) to PropertyGuru.com.my from the same period. As we continue to help property seekers find and own their dream home through our platform, we attract more new visitors to our website which translates to you getting more leads as our agent partners.
Despite an anticipated decrease of user activity due to 2 weeks of MCO, PropertyGuru.com.my web traffic sessions remain stable in the month of March with no significant drop in terms of number of total impressions on property listings. Through the Listing Performance Insights (LPI) feature on AgentNet, we’re able to monitor changes in total number of impressions for residential and commercial listings.
Findings below suggest that property seekers are still keen and are searching for properties while staying at home.
Long-term Consumer Behavior Trends
It’s important to understand that this pandemic will leave behind long-lasting consumer behavior changes that impact the real estate ecosystem and our traditional practices even after recovery. Mike Delprete wrote that social distancing will accelerate the adoption of digital services that facilitate real estate transactions.
Once more consumers experience the benefits of buying or selling a home through a digital marketplace, PropTech portals will become the new go-to channel within the real estate industry. With that, we expect to see increased adoption as we continue to introduce new features to enhance user experience on our platforms.
Find out 3 Ways to Stockpile Your Prospects here.
Know What People Are Looking At
Landed properties or condominiums?
According to the searches made by property seekers over the past 3 months, we have seen a relatively even split between the 2 segments across Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang and Johor regions.
Interested to find out the top 6 hotspots Malaysians are looking at? Read here.
Leverage on Property Transaction Reports
At a time like this, your ability to make smart moves in planning marketing activities is critical, and you will need insights to do that. As part of our GuruCares Initiative, all agent partners with an active PropertyGuru account as of 31st March 2020 now have 4-months unlimited access to property transaction reports on PropertyAdvisor.my. Read here for details.
Agent partners, we are standing by you. Let’s take care of each other.
#KitaJagaKita #GuruCares #PGMYStandByYou
-PropertyGuru Team
Check out your COVID-19 Resource Guide to see the relief measures, latest webinars and articles available to you!
Sign up for your free webinar sessions available on PropertyGuru Academy!
Other articles on GuruCares initiative for agent partners:
- Standing By You Through COVID-19 (GuruCares Initiative launched on: 1 April 2020)
Find out more about the suite of relief initiatives we rolled out for new and existing agent partners. - Supporting You Further With GuruCares Initiative: MCO Extension Edition (GuruCares Initiative launched on: 20 April 2020) Find out more about MCO Extension Edition we rolled out for our agent partners.
- GuruCares Initiatives Extended For Your Strong Bounce Back (GuruCares Initiative launched on: 6 May 2020) Find out more about GuruCares Initiatives Extended For Your Strong Bounce Back.
- GuruCares Initiative: Free Webinars By PropertyGuru Academy
Offering you accessible resources so that you can stay on top of the game and be ready to bounce back into action anytime. - Stockpile Your Prospects By Using These 3 PropertyGuru Features
3 features that can help you stockpile your prospects, by building trust and credible with property seekers. - How To Use Your Ad Credits Smartly
Get insights from our consumer data on how to optimise your Ad Credit spend - 3 Online Courses We Recommend to Property Agents
Learn tips and skills from real estate professionals to help you prepare for post COVID-19 market rebound. - Property Seekers Still Keen Despite COVID-19. Here’s What They Are Looking At
Gain valuable insights on what property seekers are looking for, despite these uncertain and challenging times. - Helpful Tips To Close During Covid-19
Here’s a list of some tips on how you can up your game and still manage to successfully close deals, despite these challenging times. - When And Where To Focus Your Listings In May
Get valuable insights based off PropertyGuru’s proprietary data in April 2020, to strategise your next steps to success.