REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
Globenewswire | May 16, 2023
Ohmyhome Ltd. (NASDAQ: OMH, “Ohmyhome”, “the Company”) and Ohmyhome Property Inc. (“Ohmyhome Philippines”) are pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) of a strategic investment by Ohmyhome Ltd. into Ohmyhome Property Inc.’s Philippines operations, marking Ohmyhome’s plan of expanding in the large and growing Philippines market.
“Philippines has always been a great market for property transactions. The quality of developers and their projects have improved significantly over the decades, and the country’s economy has seen a strong rebound from COVID with a flourishing digital economy,” said Rhonda Wong, Chief Executive Officer “Many companies have set up their Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and technology teams here, creating job opportunities and income for families. The growing Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) have also been a strong pillar of growth of the real estate industry. We believe that there are ample opportunities for a data-driven technology platform like us to help homebuyers, home sellers, and developers transact their properties.” added Ms. Wong.
Philippines as a Southeast Asia Growth Opportunity
The company’s move into the Philippines market provides robust business growth opportunities. With a record pace of 7.6% in 2022, Philippines is amongst the world's fastest growing emerging markets according to S&P Global. The population growth remains one of the strongest in Southeast Asia with a fertility rate of 2.78 in 2020, and the median age of 25.3 years as compared to 41.8 of Singapore and 38.1 of United States. The Philippines is also a country with one of the highest English-speaking populations in Southeast Asia, making it ripe for international businesses.
Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are also increasingly contributing to the economy and the housing market in the Philippines. The total number of OFWs was estimated at 1.83 million in 2021, up by 3% compared to 2020. Total personal cash remittances grew 3.6% to USD 36.14 billion in 2022, accounting for 8.9% of the Philippines’ gross domestic product. The robust inward remittances reflected the increasing demand for OFWs amid the reopening of economies, and also presents great opportunities for families to upgrade their homes back in the Philippines.
“Ohmyhome’s vision is to be the most trusted and comprehensive property solution for everyone, and the Philippines currently lacks a platform that provides exceptional customer service that Ohmyhome is providing to our customers in the Singapore market,” said Herzon Garland, Founder of Ohmyhome Property Inc. “We believe that with this collaboration, we will be able to provide first class service to our customer base and bring the best Philippines properties to Filipinos here and around the globe.”
Strategic Partnership Provides Synergies
The core component of the collaboration and integration between Ohmyhome and Ohmyhome Philippines, will bring core technologies of Ohmyhome in closing transactions and its MATCH algorithm to complement Ohmyhome Philippines operations in property transactions. Additionally, the partnership will provide resources on both sides to allow for the ease of cross-border property transactions.
The integration of Ohmyhome Philippines’ huge portfolio of properties and units will allow interested buyers and investors of Philippines properties to select from a wide range of units that fit their needs and will be serviced by a dedicated team that works across Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. myElite.pro, an exclusive members-only property network developed by Ohmyhome Philippines for salespersons and referral partners in the Philippines and beyond, could also potentially be deployed in other geographies to partner with trustworthy licensed salespersons and referral partners to serve both homebuyers and sellers who can access all information and services from a single platform on their fingertips.
“This MOU further solidifies our position as the go-to platform for property seekers and sellers to come. We hope to be able to bring our solutions to the millions of families in Southeast Asia, and bring speed, ease, and reliability to property related services in the region.” commented Race Wong, Chief Operating Officer.
The agreement will allow the Company to service the thousands of homeowners and homebuyers across Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines as a united team and a dedicated platform that ensures quality services and acts in the best interest of customers.
About Ohmyhome Property Inc.
Originally established by a few business partners who believed in similar visions of the founders of the Company, Ohmyhome Property Inc. was established to expand Ohmyhome’s branding and building partnerships in the Philippines and was provided with Ohmyhome’s branding and the support of web and mobile platforms.
Within a short span of 3 years since its inception, Ohmyhome Philippines has grown the brand into one of the leading property platforms in the Philippines. The business team has also secured partnerships with more than 150 developers with over 80,000 properties for customers to choose from. Ohmyhome Philippines has since become the platform with the largest and most comprehensive property inventory in the nation.
Separately, to leverage on the strong social networks of Filipinos across the country and globally, Ohmyhome Philippines has developed and launched in 2022 myElite.pro with close to 5,000 verified members. myElite.pro is a members-only property network where verified referral partners and salespersons are able to access the most comprehensive property inventory in the Philippines and refer buyers to the network and earn incentives upon successful close. This taps onto the informal network of Filipinos across the country and the world and allows clients to be served by verified partnering salespersons everywhere without incurring additional headcount.
About Ohmyhome
Ohmyhome is a one-stop-shop property technology platform in Singapore that provides end-to-end property solutions and services for buying, selling, renting, and renovating homes. Since its launch in 2016, Ohmyhome has transacted over 13,100 properties. It is also the highest rated property transaction platform with more than 8,000 genuine reviews with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars.
Today, Ohmyhome is the first Singaporean company listed in the US in 2023 and the first women-only founded Proptech company listed in the US.
Ohmyhome is dedicated to bringing speed, ease, and reliability to the property-related services, and to become the most trusted and comprehensive property solution for everyone.
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AGENT, REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT
PRnewswire | May 08, 2023
Parvis Invest Inc. (TSXV: PVIS) ("Parvis" or "the Company"), a technology-driven real estate company focused on broadening access to institutional quality real estate investment opportunities, today announced a co-agency agreement with Equiton, a leading Canadian private equity real estate investment firm, to distribute two Equiton products on the Parvis platform.
Through this co-agency agreement, investors registered on the Parvis platform will have turnkey access to a leading private real estate investment trust (REIT) opportunity with monthly distributions in addition to the varying, premium development projects listed on the platform. The two funds set to be listed include the Equiton Apartment Fund and Equiton Income and Development Fund, both designed to provide investors with access to a diversified portfolio of institutional quality real estate investments.
"We believe in Canadian real estate. Its strong fundamentals have helped many people build wealth for their families. That's why we're so excited about this partnership with Equiton, " said David Michaud, Chief Executive Officer of Parvis. "From the beginning, we've wanted to build a platform that helps more people build long-term value and wealth. But investors who want access to private real estate investment face barriers. Now, through our tech-enabled platform, we can provide access to both individual and pooled investment opportunities - allowing investors to find the right fit for them, no matter what their investment objectives might be, with little hassle. This is an important step forward for our business, and I couldn't be more excited about it."
As of May 2, 2023, the Equiton Apartment Fund comprises 32 properties across 17 communities in Ontario and Alberta, with a total of 2,548 residential units with a targeted annual net return of 8-12% per year.
The Equiton Income and Development Fund provides access to a diversified portfolio of institutional grade real estate assets including income producing (commercial/industrial/lending) as well as development projects. The Fund targets an average annual net return of 12% to 16% over a 10 year period.
Both Funds specialize in acquiring multi-residential properties in Canada and increasing their value through active management and monthly distributions to investors from rental income and capital appreciation.
The listing of these funds follows Parvis' signing of an agreement to provide Exempt Market Dealer (EMD) services to Harvestd and Parametric, which opened up an exciting vertical for the company.
About Parvis
Parvis is a technology-driven real estate investing platform. Focused on broadening access to institutional quality real estate investment opportunities, Parvis promotes greater access in this historically inaccessible and illiquid asset class. Enabled by blockchain technology, Parvis makes finding, tracking, and maximizing investments an experience that is both frictionless and empowering. Parvis, headquartered in Vancouver, employs experts in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal.
About Equiton
Founded in 2015, Equiton is a recognized leader in private equity investments. We partner with advisors to offer easy access to all types of investment grade real estate through our proven, high-performing investment solutions that provide a variety of benefits including cash flow and capital appreciation. Our real estate expertise and dedication to investors led to tripling of our AUM from 2020 to 2022 during a global pandemic. Our exponential growth is a direct outcome of our leadership team understanding how the industry works and how to create long-term wealth through real estate investing.
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MARKET OUTLOOK, REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY
PRnewswire | May 04, 2023
Zillow announced today the launch of the Zillow ChatGPT plugin, which gives users a new way to discover real estate listings.
Users who enable the plugin can use conversational language to ask about specific property listings or share the types of for-sale and rental homes they are interested in, including location, price range, and bedroom and bathroom count. The Zillow plugin then retrieves relevant information from Zillow's extensive database of real estate listings.
The plugin will be accessible to a select number of ChatGPT users today, with broader access anticipated in the future.
"Generative AI is changing the way people search for information. At Zillow, we've been embracing AI and machine learning starting with the Zestimate® in 2006, and later introducing personalized recommendations and natural language search – which means we're well-equipped to help customers search and find homes in this new way," said David Beitel, chief technology officer at Zillow Group. "As the first major residential real estate marketplace to bring advanced, AI-powered search to the home-shopping experience, we understand its immense potential, and we look forward to developing more tech innovations with OpenAI technology in the future."
Zillow is building a housing super app that offers customers a seamless, connected experience across all their real estate needs: buying, selling, financing and renting. It launched natural language search queries on its apps and sites in January, and this ChatGPT plugin is the latest example of how Zillow is using technology to make it easier for customers to find and get into their next home. AI capabilities show up throughout Zillow's products and services, most recently in advancements in the neural Zestimate, computer-vision-powered rich media experiences and AI-generated immersive floor plans.
The Zillow ChatGPT plugin is currently in its alpha phase, providing an opportunity for Zillow to refine and enhance the experience based on user interactions. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, has implemented safeguards to minimize inaccuracies and prevent inappropriate responses, but users should keep in mind that at times the experience might not work exactly as expected.
About Zillow Group
Zillow Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z and ZG) is reimagining real estate to make home a reality for more and more people. As the most visited real estate website in the United States, Zillow and its affiliates help people find and get the home they want by connecting them with digital solutions, great partners, and easier buying, selling, financing and renting experiences.
Zillow Group's affiliates, subsidiaries and brands include Zillow®; Zillow Premier Agent®; Zillow Home Loans℠; Zillow Closing Services℠; Trulia®; Out East®; StreetEasy®; HotPads®; and ShowingTime+℠, which includes ShowingTime®, Bridge Interactive®, and dotloop®.
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