Tech Could Boost Housing Sector’s Contribution to GDP: TuHabi
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Tech Could Boost Housing Sector’s Contribution to GDP: TuHabi

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Fernando Mares By Fernando Mares | Journalist & Industry Analyst - Thu, 12/08/2022 - 16:09


The housing sector is not known to be a sector that incorporates technology in its daily operations, but this could change through property technology (proptech) companies participating more in the Mexican market. Industry insiders say that their technology could boost the sector’s contribution to the national GDP.

According to Gerardo Fernández, Director General, TuHabi, proptechs players could boost the real estate sector, especially the housing subsector as it could facilitate processes like the valuation of homes. During the presentation of TuHabi’s new valuation tool Habimetro, Fernández said that owing to technology, information and data, the housing sector could double its share of the GDP, which according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) stands at 5.7 percent. 

Fernández said that technology could facilitate procedures for house sales like helping clients with formalities, which in Mexico are difficult and time-consuming. Nonetheless, he admitted that there is a long way to go since Mexico’s market conditions are very different from those in developed countries because of the lack of information about the real estate market. He added that the average person in a developed country changes homes over 6 times in a lifetime. It is therefore important to collect more data to bring certainty to users. “We have a major problem in Mexico, as we do not possess the information to successfully buy or sell a house. We are building the required infrastructure to make house trading quicker and easier. We also diversified our service portfolio to allow more people to benefit from our services,” Fernández added. 

The company said incorporating technology into the housing sector can help tackle the lack of transparency, one of the main factors that scare off users, especially those who want to acquire existing houses. Habimetro compares different data like location, the building’s age, extensions, and the number of floors, among other data, to calculate an approximate price. Habimetro is currently operational in Mexico City, the State of Mexico, Guadalajara and Monterrey.

According to Carlos Serrano, Chief Economist, BBVA, the housing subsector is the branch of the construction industry that will contribute the least to the construction sector as there is no demand for new houses. However, companies focused on second-hand houses could benefit since the demand for such products is growing.

TuHabi is the Mexican subsidiary of the Colombian unicorn Habi. The main difference between TuHabi and a regular estate agency is that the company directly buys the property, refurbishes it and sells it. 
 

Photo by:   ThisIsEngineering REAEng

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