OLX Egypt, the classifieds platform in Egypt, revealed the detailed property market trends report for the first half (H1) of 2017 (January to June 2017). The report presents statistics of the performance of property buyers and sellers in the market from data accumulated on the classified platforms, as well as the recently launched Storia platform. The report exposes the opportunities in the real estate market, indicating optimistic insights for rent and purchases based on online user habits.
Despite the economic downturn and a hike in inflation, over 5 million Egyptians used OLX Egypt monthly in H1 2017, with an average of 33 million visits recorded in the real estate section alone. About 32% of the total listings on OLX across all sections were in the property section, highlighting the increasing interest in buying and selling property recently. According to the report, this trend has provided investors with confidence in listing more property online, and developed a more diversified set of options for buyers to choose from.
OLX’s General Manager of Egypt, Momtaz Moussa, commented on the results of the report, saying that the Egyptian real estate market witnessed exponential growth, leading potential buyers and sellers to utilize online classifieds channels. “With the successful launch of Storia, we provided focus on the premium areas in Egypt through an organized and more convenient platform to communicate and trade on,” he added.
Storia was launched as a premium property section across all OLX’s platforms, under the name of “Storia Premium Properties”, supporting property developers with more features and services in publishing listings, and providing a more specialised experience for users looking to purchase premium property.
According to the report, OLX identified that each user spends an average of 11 minutes browsing OLX Property in each visit and receives the first lead within 48 hours of a published listing.
For the property section, the results show an overview of the performance of the property market relative to geographical locations and pricing categories during 2017. The most expensive area is Zamalek (Rent at EGP 16,000 and Sale at EGP 4,000,000), in addition to the most affordable area, which is Ain Shams (Rent at EGP 1,300 and Sale at EGP 445,000). The top keywords searched in the property section were: “old rent”, “house for sale”, and “apartment for sale”, followed by Al Maady, Sheikh Zayed, Al Obour, Nasr City, 6th of October, Fifth Settlement, and Heliopolis.
Moreover, the report highlighted that the apartments for sale had the highest volume of search, with 4,962,213 searches, followed by villas for sale with 391,116 searches, land for sale with 388,297 searches, chalets for sale with 246,857 searches, and commercial for sale with 203,265 searches. In addition, Nasr City, Pyramids Gardens, and Al Maady are the top areas in terms of listings on the platform, followed by Heliopolis, North Coast, Faisal, Al Mokattam, Al Obour, Al Zaytoun, and Fifth Settlement.
The report also pointed out that apartments for rent had the highest volume of search, with 1,690,748 searches, followed by commercial for rent with 359,098 searches, chalets for rent with 152,918 searches, and finally, villas for rent with 46,005 searches. The report unveiled that the North Coast and Nasr City are the top areas in terms of listings in H1 2017, followed by Al Maady, Heliopolis, Al Haram, Marina, Sheikh Zayed, Al Rehab, and Fifth Settlement.
The results of the reports show consumer behavior in H1 2017, acting as a guideline for property developers and brokers to reach their target audience according to their demand. North Coast was one of the top areas in terms of listing, as well as chalets for sale and rent, which shows that the market is moving toward summer residence due to the summer season in Egypt.
