Innovation is a tricky, vital component for every firm, and the world’s largest real estate portals are no exception. I thought a lot about innovation during my four-year tenure as head of strategy at New Zealand’s leading property portal, Trade Me.
Article image credited to Kris Tan / Shutterstock.com
Comments
Related Articles
Raising $210 million is enough to get any business into the news. That’s especially true when the business in question is Opendoor, the two-year-old real estate startup that aims to bring simplicity to the housing market by purchasing homes directly from sellers and flipping them over to buyers after a quick spruce-up.
Generally, people buy and sell houses the same today as they did 100 years ago. Aside from property portals such as Rightmove, Realestate.com.au and Zillow, the industry hasn’t meaningfully shifted online. Real estate agents are front and center in the transaction, and the bulk of the process still occurs offline.
How do large residential real estate portals around the world think about investments and acquisitions? What types of companies do they look to acquire and how do they incorporate them? As the head of strategy at New Zealand’s leading property portal, Trade Me, I dealt with these questions on a daily basis.