Aitizaz Hassan

A real estate startup in Pakistan has witnessed unprecedented growth during the last six years, WealthPK reports. Zameen.com is considered one of the most successful startups in the property business in the country. It has recorded an unprecedented growth during the last six years. According to a report of Frontier Digital Venture, a Malaysian-based business consultancy firm, Zameen.com recorded the highest increase in income, up to Rs5.9 billion in the first half of the year 2022 from Rs281.5 million in the second half of 2016.

The average semi-annual growth of Zameen remained at almost 35%. Even in dollars, Zameen grew its revenues to $31.9 billion during the first six months of the year 2022 from $2.7 billion in the last six months of the year 2016, which is 11 times higher despite the desperation of the Pakistan rupee to less than half its value over the same period.

The startup has continued the upward trajectory, posting revenues of Rs 3.4 billion in the third quarter of 2022. On a year-on-year basis, it witnessed an increase of 75% as compared to the same quarter of 2021, based on the average exchange rates. The report says that during the last six years, the country incentivised the real estate business multiple times when the construction sector was pushing up the property prices manifold. Zameen’s own indices show an increase of 52% in house rates, 62% in plots and 66% in residential property.

When Zameen was launched in 2006, property classifieds used to be a major cash cow for the print media. In those days, getting inventory displayed in the Sunday newspaper was no achievement. In little over a decade, the prop-tech company moved the industry online, capturing almost the entire market in the process.

For the first six to seven years of its journey, Zameen was like any classifieds business, where real estate agents could list their inventory and customers could see it. However, earning a commission wasn’t possible as most property transactions were cash-based. So, the platform turned to a subscription model, charging property brokers a recurring fee for the leads.

In a statement, the co-founder and chief executive of Zameen, Zeeshan Ali Khan, said that being just an agent there were so many challenges. When things were away from their control, the more difficult it was to manage the deals and it was important to take that into their hand, he added.

He said that to tackle the issue, Zameen first started marketing for real estate developers, basically doing on-ground sales on their behalf for commissions. It finally began building properties itself, where the company would have more control over the value chain. “In fact, most of the money has been reportedly made in transactions,” he said in the statement received by WealthPK. As per investor documents, Zameen has finalised 6,908 transactions in nine months of 2022.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk