Product and Service Roundup: Avito, Schibsted, Housing.com, RSquare, Zoopla, OneDome, Zillow

A lot of regular names feature in this week's Product Roundup, but a proptech in South Korea makes a very interesting appearance.

Nevertheless, we'll start this week's roundup in Russia...

Europe: Avito Realty teams up with major bank to offer e-mortgages

The real estate segment of Russia's largest classifieds marketplace Avito has entered an agreement with DOM.RF, Russia's third-largest bank, to integrate an e-mortgage product into its platform.

Users of Avito Real Estate can now select DOM.RF as their lender and apply for a mortgage online for apartments, houses and self-build construction projects.

Applications are simplified and do not require lengthy forms or multiple document submissions, relying only on the user's digital profile before being sent to the bank for approval.

Vlad Fedulov, managing director at Avito, said the partnership will "bring Avito Real Estate closer to solving one of its main tasks – to allow homebuyers to complete most stages of a property transaction within one platform."

Schibsted to exit recruitment in Sweden and Finland and divest from its Venture portfolio

Schibsted, the Oslo-based publicly listed marketplace operator, has confirmed it will divest from the recruitment sectors in Sweden and Finland citing overwhelming challenges in displacing the respective market leaders.

Schibsted acquired JobbSafari from Denmark-based JobIndex in 2019 and Oikotie from Finland-based Sanoma the following year—but has announced these job boards will be closed.

However, Schibsted's job vertical in Norway is performing well and will not be sold or closed.

A press release also added that Schibsted plans to divest the majority of its venture portfolio to streamline its operations by "exiting operations that are not considered core."

Christian Printzell Halvorsen, CEO at Schibsted Marketplaces, said:

"When I took over as CEO [May 2024], I committed to simplifying our organization and sharpening our focus. The actions we’ve announced today are decisive steps in that direction, significantly contributing to our ongoing journey of streamlining our organization and our portfolio.

"We have a tremendous opportunity to build on our strong market positions, and these steps will enable us to concentrate on our four verticals, where we see the greatest potential for growth and long-term value creation. We expect to initiate sales processes for these entities in the next nine months."

The news comes in the same week that Schibsted reported its Q3 activities, with revenues growing 11% YoY.

Asia: Housing.com introduces AI-powered 'Housing Stories' and 'Housing Shorts'

Housing.com, the REA-India-owned portal, has unveiled 'Housing Stories' and 'Housing Shorts,' groundbreaking, features designed to transform property viewing, into its real estate app.

Using a social media-inspired short video format, 'Housing Stories' are created using unfiltered videos or images shared by customers. Additionally, 'Housing Shorts' introduces an interactive AI anchor that guides users through property highlights, offering key details provided by developers or agents.

Housing.com says a pre-launch phase attracted circa 1000 customers and 100,000 home seeker views, leading to a 30% increase in engagement.

Sangeet Aggarwal, Head of Product & Design at Housing.com, said:

"We believe the proptech sector is on the brink of a major transformation, driven by technological advancements and evolving consumer behaviours.

"Innovations like ‘Housing Stories’ & ‘Housing Shorts’ by Housing.com not only simplify the property search process but also allow users to explore homes in a manner similar to browsing social media content. This also provides us with valuable insights into consumer preferences, enabling us to tailor our offerings for a more personalised and engaging experience."

REA India, which also includes PropTiger and Makaan, grew revenues by 31% in the 2024 financial year.

South Korean proptech RSquare integrates DataHub for real-time real estate information nationwide

Commercial proptech RSquare has added DataHub's registry service to democratize real estate information in South Korea.

The registry includes AI-powered map search, real-time real estate and corporate registration search, real-time updates on major changes, an integrated payments system, and unlimited access to the possession registry.

DataHub is a modern data catalogue designed to streamline metadata management, data discovery, and data governance. The platform is built for developers to tame the complexity of their rapidly evolving data ecosystems and for data practitioners to leverage the total value of data within their organization.

RSquare is a one-stop solution from office leasing to interior design, asset management, and investment consulting. The company provides comprehensive real estate services that address market information asymmetry and opacity issues, based on IT solutions and real estate data. The firm offers a wide range of proptech services including a brokerage offering and spacial remodeling across 300,000 data points.

United Kingdom: Zoopla turns to real agents for new campaign

British portal Zoopla has launched a new marketing campaign which features real-life agents.

Selected from a list of over 200 nominees of agents who go the extra mile for their clients, Kate Gostelow and Gary Thompson, feature in a campaign running across the North West and West Midlands, where the agents work respectively, on billboards advertising Zoopla, and other media including local press and social media.

Zoopla plans to roll out its 'real agents' campaigns across the UK in 2025.

Alex Rose, director of sales at Zoopla, said:

"We’re pleased to be the first UK property portal to feature estate agents in our advertising. Our ambition is that this campaign not only shines a spotlight on Kate and Gary, but also highlights the invaluable role of agents when it comes to making those all-important home decisions."

Kate Gostelow, sales director at North Wall Property, Merseyside, and one of the featured agents, said:

"“I am so pleased to have been chosen to feature in Zoopla’s latest campaign, especially since this is all down to our community and clients sending through their heartwarming nominations. We put our heart and soul into everything we do, so to be recognised and appreciated for the hard work is really amazing."

OneDome partners with payroll provider Caroola

British challenger portal OneDome, and its mortgage division CMME, has entered a strategic partnership with contractor accountancy and payroll provider Caroola to streamline the home-buying process for contractors and self-employed professionals who use Caroola's services.

All Caroola clients will have access to OneDome’s HomeBuyer Service at a discounted rate, including a mortgage adviser, property legal services, homebuyer protection insurance, and a dedicated property moving assistant.

Babek Ismayil, chief executive of OneDome, said:

"With our mortgage arm, CMME’s recognition as the top mortgage brokerage for contractors in the UK, and our profound expertise in addressing the mortgage and insurance needs of the self-employed, we are excited to elevate our service offerings.

"This partnership with Caroola allows us to provide a comprehensive, end-to-end home buying experience tailored specifically to the unique financial challenges faced by contractors."

United States: Zillow syndicates Zillow 3D Home Tours onto Realtor.com

Zillow and Realtor.com are announcing an agreement to automatically share Zillow 3D Home tours, interactive floor plans and photos in listings syndicated to Realtor.com—which is both a rival and partner of the portal giant in an ongoing fight for market leadership against CoStar, which operates Homes.com.

The agreement comes seven months after the two portals entered a partnership for multifamily rental listings, and will now see home listings on Zillow that feature panoramic interactive home tours created from Zillow’s 3D Homes technology automatically syndicate onto Realtor.com as standard.

Zillow 3D Home tours and interactive floor plans give agents and real estate media companies a cost-effective way to uplevel their listings.

The partnership will benefit Zillow and Realtor.com by giving listing agents wider exposure to their stock. Zillow says the deal will give agents and sellers a 40% boost to potential audiences for 3D listings.

Cynthia Taylor, VP of Product at Zillow, said:

"At Zillow, we have long believed that more rich, interactive listing content benefits buyers, sellers, and agents.

"That’s why we provide our Zillow 3D Home technology to the industry for free, and it’s why we’re excited about collaborating with Realtor.com to share our 3D tours and interactive floor plans with more shoppers."

On the surface, the move appears to counterplay CoStar's imminent acquisition of Matterport, which sells industry-leading 3D property tours and immersive 'digital twin' replicas of properties. Zillow will rightly claim that its 3D offering remains the best, integrated experience for listing agents, but this claim will be seriously challenged once CoStar closes the Matterport acquisition by the end of Q1 2025.