This article by OPP Connect editor Adrian Bishop is reposted with permission from OPP Connect.
Fast-growing international property website Lamudi has more than doubled its listings in just six months.
The real estate network, which specializes in emerging nations, began a year ago with 16 countries and now covers 28 nations in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
From April-September this year, the German-based company grew 116 percent and now has more than 670,000 properties listed to buy or rent.
Lamudi, led by co-founders Paul Philipp Hermann, Kian Moini and Antonius Salis, employs 400 staff split between its headquarters in Berlin and local teams in each market.
“Our goal from the very beginning has been to deliver a high-quality property portal in markets where searching for real estate online is a relatively new phenomenon,” said Moini, the company’s managing director.
“House hunters in these regions should not be underestimated; as the Internet becomes more widespread, they are seeking out the same services that are already commonplace in more established markets. It is for this reason that we believe our product has resonated so strongly with property-seekers around the world.
“Lamudi is innovative because we tackle markets that other property portals have so far ignored. We expect Lamudi’s growth spurt to continue for the remainder of 2014 and beyond.”
In the Middle East, Lamudi is the leading real estate portal in Jordan, with 13,000 property listings in just six months. In Saudi Arabia, the number of property listings has jumped fourfold since early 2014, and visits have risen more than 750 percent since February.
Growth in Pakistan has been particularly strong, and the Lamudi.pk website has grown from 10,000 listings in December 2013 to 130,000 now.
In April, Lamudi received $7 million in investment to grow its operations in Asia, which included its launch in Sri Lanka, as OPP Connect reported last month.
Globally, the company launched both Android and iOS apps during 2014, as OPP Connect exclusively reported in January, which have been downloaded about 90,000 times since June.