Affiliate programme with effective tools for UAE real estate brokers

Most real estate agents in Dubai collaborate with partners. This significantly expands the possibilities, but is also risky, since it’s difficult to control the reliability of each partner.

Andrey Sviridenko, СEO of UAE-based Behomes proptech startup, talked about the benefits and risks of partnership in the Dubai real estate market and the role of modern technologies in this process.

The real estate market in the Mena region has been growing in 2023. From 2021 to 2022, property values in Dubai increased by 30 per cent. During first quarter of 2023, more than 30,000 transactions were completed. In 2023, the value of real estate in Dubai also increased. Experts give different forecasts: from five per cent to 20 per cent increase in value, depending on the property.

In 2022, most non-resident property buyers in the UAE were Russians, taking 10 per cent to 15 per cent of transactions, according to various agencies. In terms of the number of transactions, citizens of India, Great Britain, Italy, France, and Canada were leaders.

As most transactions from foreign traffic are remote, foreign go-betweens need convenient tools for finding brokers or agencies in Dubai for transferring clients and quickly completing the purchase of real estate.

Foreign investors value the UAE real estate market for its transparency and economic incentives. Since February 2022, the number of property transactions in Dubai has grown by 43 per cent year-on-year basis. During first quarter of 2023, the share of foreigners investing in Dubai real estate reached 45 per cent.

These prospects are beneficial for UAE real estate brokers and agencies. They can expand their referral networks with foreign partners. According to the Behomes audit, UAE agencies receive responses from 18 foreign brokers on average among 100 leads, with most of them willing to work remotely (in 2023, more than 70 per cent of UAE real estate transactions were remote). Without engaging them as partners, UAE agencies lose about 15-20 per cent of the budget for paid traffic.

Foreign partners also benefit from such cooperation, having commissions on closed transactions from UAE brokers. But there are also difficulties with such partnerships.

If a broker in the UAE operates without a licence, he has no right to close a deal. There are three ways to overcome this difficulty:

• finding a licensed broker and using his license with commission;

• going to the agency;

• getting a licence.

Both brokers and partners may be afraid that clients can be “taken away.” Modern digital solutions help UAE agencies and brokers make transparent transactions, monitoring their statuses at each stage, and effectively implementing the affiliate programme.

Digital instruments for partnership programmes in the UAE real estate market

Behomes has developed a PRM system based on a proptech platform with several partnership tools:

• referral program for partners;

• infrastructure for real estate agents and partners;

Alina Kalam is an independent business journalist.