Last month, our Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Gil Sperling, took center stage at the prestigious 2023 Property Portal Watch Conference in the vibrant city of Madrid. Accompanied by fellow Co-Founder and Co-CEO Dan Levy, the dynamic duo led conversations discussing portals and how they drive better engagement with hyper-targeted audiences and evolve revenue-generating models. A new appreciation was found for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its role within portals, and in a world where brands and consumers are intricately linked, the significance of trust has never been more paramount.

Off-site advertising is revolutionising portals

Daniel and Gil’s takeaway from conversations around the world is that portals are adapting alternative, performance-based business strategies where agents become partners and share revenue, rather than simply serving a landing page for listings. In becoming part of the transaction, the portals are looking to alternative advertising strategies – and off-site ads are in the lead.

There are 26 million active Facebook and Instagram users in South Africa – 2.91 billion globally. Users spend an average of 3 hours a day on social media and 70% of them visit it daily. By placing ads on these platforms, portals have greater reach in a trusted space that draws well-defined audiences in numbers, back to their marketplaces and undoubtedly delivers greater conversion.

After sponsored listings, featured listings, and premium spots there isn’t room for much more, thus portals’ exhaustion of their inventory has contributed to the rise of off-site advertising. The move to off-site ads opens up massive, untapped inventory. Like AI, this isn’t coming – it’s here. It’s a must-have for property portals – for any portal or marketplace. Most importantly it’s a way to reach people where they are, rather than going looking for them.

AI is here - and it’s revolutionising real estate experiences

The era of AI in the proptech sector has arrived, marking a significant shift in how we engage with real estate. AI is not a future prospect but a current reality - and it’s reshaping user experiences on property portals. Through intuitive curation of property images, AI tailors the whole experience, offering potential buyers a personalised journey. It goes beyond the standard pictures of a property; AI can dynamically reimagine spaces, transforming a study into a child's bedroom for a growing family or updating a lounge with contemporary furniture, making it appealing to design-conscious buyers.

In addition, AI is optimising real estate operations with AI-generated listing descriptions, powered by large language models like ChatGPT. This not only reduces agent upload time but also enhances listing quality. AI-driven home matching algorithms are reshaping the search experience for buyers and sellers by refining searches, ensuring more precise matches.

AI's impact on real estate is undeniable but it is not here to replace human agents. AI-augmented working means real estate professionals can harness the power of technology to boost efficiency, improve customer experiences, and ultimately revolutionise the industry.

Data is a powerful asset when handled with care

Presenting at PPW gave Flow’s leadership team the opportunity to demonstrate South Africa’s pioneering work in the proptech space, speaking about essential tech, sharing insights, and collaborating with global real estate portal leaders, which sparked transformative conversations that we’re proud to be at the forefront of.