This week's (massive) product roundup starts in the United States, where buying a house may get you enough loyalty points to redecorate and travel at a significant discount...
Bilt Rewards, the pioneering rewards program for renters, today announced a groundbreaking expansion that allows Bilt Members to earn substantial Bilt Points when purchasing a home through an eXp Realty agent.
This first-of-its-kind program awards one point for every $2 of a home's purchase price—meaning a $400,000 home purchase could earn up to 200,000 Bilt Points.
Ankur Jain, Founder and CEO at Bilt Rewards, said:
"Americans receive rewards for everyday purchases, but have never been properly rewarded for the largest purchase they will make in their lifetime. Bilt pioneered Bilt Points on rent payments to give members something back on their biggest monthly expense. Now, we're going to reward them when they buy a home—their largest lifetime purchase.
"This is part of our broader mission to make the path to homeownership more accessible and rewarding for our members."
Bilt has launched an innovative home search tool that shows available homes based on best estimates of an all-in monthly payment—making it easier for renters to compare the monthly cost of homeownership to their current rent.
Leo Pareja, CEO at eXp Realty, said:
"Our strategic relationship with Bilt enhances provides homebuyers the ability to earn significant rewards while making the most important purchase of their lives. This collaboration not only simplifies the homebuying process but also brings unprecedented value to the table, helping more people turn their dream of owning a home into a reality. Together, we're creating a future where homebuyers are rewarded for every step they take on the path to homeownership."
Bilt raised a massive $200 million funding round at the start of 2024 at a valuation of more than $3 billion. Bilt's platform lets customers earn rewards on rent and family neighbourhood spending—with annualized member spending "nearing $20Bn". The platform announced EBITDA profitability in 2023.
Rightmove changed an advertisement deemed misleading after the Advertising Standards Authority stepped in.
The advert, for a free property valuation, stated: "How much is my house worth? Get a free, no-obligation, accurate market valuation from local property experts you select."
However, an estate agent made a complaint saying all the featured local agents in the campaign had actually paid to be involved—which Rightmove had glossed over in the advertisement.
The ASA said the matter was resolved informally, with a spokesperson telling The Negotiator:
"A complainant, a local estate agent, who understood the listed estate agents were a small selection within the area who had paid to be featured, challenged whether the ad was misleading as it omitted material information.
"We approached Rightmove with the concerns that had been raised. It agreed to amend its website so that it was clear that featured agents had paid a fee to promote their valuation expertise.
"On that basis, we considered the matter resolved."
Rightmove is working with major mortgage practitioners Legal & General to build and launch a 'decision engine' that values properties.
Also in collaboration with Gen H—a homebuying service provider—the decision engine will guide Rightmove on whether it is time for a property to be revalued or physically inspected based on several factors.
Legal & General has already built and launched the basis service under its Surveyancing Service, which collects data about properties from its backyard as well as Rightmove itself.
The decision engine aims to minimise the time between the initial enquiry and mortgage application process by ensuring that surveyors are up-to-date on the most pressing needs of would-be buyers.
Ed Burgess, strategic manager in data services at Rightmove, said:
"By using Rightmove’s market-leading property data, the property decision engine will help lenders determine the type of valuation required for a home more efficiently and with a higher degree of confidence.
"There’s a lot of exciting innovation happening in this area that will impact the way decisions are made during a property transaction."
Decision engines are tools that help users make decisions by applying a set of predetermined rules to a given situation. It works by analyzing the data and input it receives and applying the relevant rules to determine the appropriate course of action. Decision engines are therefore particularly useful for high-volume, repetitive decisions.
Airbnb has launched a long-term rental marketplace in London, allowing tenants to sublet their homes on a part-time basis, according to reporting by the Financial Times.
The initial launch in the capital will encompass circa 1,500 flats in the city as Airbnb tackles ongoing complaints about its platform driving up housing prices and housing shortages.
Under the terms of the sub-letting programme, renters can connect with landlords willing to allow hosting under specific conditions, such as limits on rental days and agreements to share 10–25% of the hosting revenue with the landlord.
Airbnb generated revenues of $3.7 billion in the third quarter of 2024, up 10% year-on-year at an Adjusted EBITDA of $2 billion.
The high-profile agency chain Knight Frank has already stated that alarm bells should be ringing with Airbnb's move.
Gary Hall, head of lettings at Knight Frank, said:
"Without proper verification, this initiative risks landlords being exposed to unauthorised property listings by tenants who do not have approval.
"To prevent potential abuse of the system, more robust security measures will be essential, extending beyond a simple landlord signature.
"While most tenancy agreements prohibit subletting, it remains an issue and this initiative may inadvertently highlight it as an opportunity for some to exploit."
The new Irish portal, Propgen, officially launched last week, and has already attracted circa 50 properties to its real estate marketplace.
Co-founder Shane Fleming took to LinkedIn last week to share numbers, including how Propgen attracted its first listing just 24 minutes after launch.
Fleming went on to say that 86 agents in Ireland have already signed up to the platform. A quick look at the portal shows 49 listings (at the time of writing), mostly in and around Dublin.
Propgen will take on the likes of Daft.ie in Ireland.
Avito, Russia's largest generalised marketplace, has introduced a feature to its real estate vertical whereby it will rank the risks associated with buying off-plan properties in Moscow using data from the city’s building control authority.
A press release from the company stated how Avito will determine the reliability of off-plan properties according to the developer's reputation for delivering on-time or not.
Russian off-plan property developments have gained a notorious reputation for delayed completion dates compared to the original construction project implementation schedule. Avito's campaign against fly-by-night developers will therefore incentivise buyers to only purchase properties from reliable companies.
Anton Slobodchikov, head of the Moscow building control authority, said:
"In order to increase the transparency of the shared construction market and inform potential buyers, the online platform Avito Real Estate will feature the Mosgosstroynadzor marking for all capital shared construction projects according to their degree of risk. This will provide citizens with an additional opportunity to freely and correctly choose when buying housing and will increase the security of transactions."
Vlad Fedolov, managing director at Avtio, said:
"Every month, Avito Real Estate offers more than 700 thousand properties in new buildings across the country. We carefully check developers and residential complexes, and then display this information on the platform. Now in the capital region we will be able to receive additional data from Mosgosstroynadzor, which will make the checks even more informative."
504 projects in the field of shared construction with a total area of 28.2 million square meters are being implemented in Moscow.
Gratka.pl, a horizontal marketplace owned by Morizon Gratka Group, which is itself operated by Ringier Axel Springer, has added an AI chat assistant to its real estate segment, among other new features.
The assistant offers advice on personalized property matching based on user preferences, and can also retrieve data points including average selling prices and mortgage estimates for particular properties based on their location.
Additionally, an interactive map with search capabilities has been added, including neighbourhood analytics and the number of listings in those neighbourhoods.
The interactive map also lets users explore local amenities like transportation infrastructure, noise pollution levels, and even upcoming developments.
Łukasz Szymak, President of the Management Board of Grupa Morizon, told BusinessInsider:
"At Gratka, we understand that searching for your dream apartment or house is one of life's greatest challenges, which brings both excitement and stress. That is why our mission is to simplify this process, so that the buyer can focus on their dreams, not on difficulties. Our goal is for Gratka.pl to be the most organized and transparent database of offers on the market. In the new service, we have introduced a number of advanced functions that facilitate navigation and the process of searching for real estate." [Translated from Polish]
The Russian hybrid real estate portal operator Etagi claims homeowners who list their properties for rent can achieve up to 30% extra rental income simply by investing in home staging.
According to Olga Pavlinova, director of the residential and commercial real estate rental department at Etazhi, many owners who had previously planned to sell their apartments are switching to renting them out, which is gradually increasing the supply on the market.
And experts suggest that, according to data, landlords should take advantage of home staging and invest in making their homes more attractive for would-be tenants.
Lyubov Kasymova, Interior designer of the renovation and pre-sale preparation department at Etagi, said:
"Home staging allows finding tenants faster: apartments with an up-to-date interior receive up to 50% more views on the site and are rented out 30% faster. This will also help increase rental income: the maximum increase in value for short-term rent is up to 25%, for long-term rent—up to 30%."
Fotocasa has launched an automatic suggestions feature to facilitate the sale of real estate.
The Machine Learning model identifies the relevant elements that appear in the images, such as the availability of terraces, air conditioning, or furniture. The new tool allows listings to be completed faster and more accurately, improving property visibility.
Fotocasa says the Automatic Suggestions feature is a first in Spain, whereby a Machine Learning model automatically detects the characteristics of a home by analyzing the photos that the user uploads, such as a terrace, air conditioning unit, or if it is furnished.
This way, the user can create an ad more quickly and easily, as the detected features are automatically suggested to be added to the ad effortlessly and in less time.
Maria Matos, director of studies at Fotocasa, said:
"This new functionality is a great advance to make ads more detailed and visible in specific searches, thus improving the possibilities of sale or rental. In this way, Automatic Suggestions speed up and facilitate the sales and search processes for users."
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