Why Private Property is a website for everyone
Transcript
Reporter: Private Property draws quite the crowd and all of them searching for something different, whether it's to rent, to buy, or even to sell. Simon Bray, CEO of Private Property and our property expert is sitting down to chat to us about who searches this popular website, how they search, and who are the ones making it all happen. I know there's a lot of people logging onto the website, but they do it for various reasons, not only to find property for sale?
Simon Bray: We've got lots and lots of people on the website, and obviously the majority of them are interested in property, because that's fundamentally what we do. But we run a survey on the site regularly and we ascertain what the motivations are that bring people to the website. It's actually fascinating when you look at the results. Obviously, you've got your first time buyers that are looking to get into the market and they're trying to establish whether it's the right time or whether the neighbourhood they're looking at is the right one. You've got families upscaling their lifestyle, looking for their next home, that garden, the extra space for the kids to run around. The guys downsizing. You've got investors looking for the next deal - bank repos or property developments. So, there're all sorts of motivations that come into it. What's really interesting is how many people are actually just there to look - window shoppers - people that are just checking out what's on the market, no real intent to buy, but just interested in what they can find.
Reporter: This is great. You mentioned window shoppers. I go to websites quite often and I just look around, even though I'm not currently in the markets. Just how many people are browsing your website at the moment?
Simon Bray: If you think about it, we've got over a million browsers on the site at any month during the year. There's millions of eyeballs that are looking at this property website, but there are only really 20,000 registered sales in South Africa every month. That gives you an indication of the difference, 20,000 sales for millions of potential buyers. It's not just that people are not finding what they're looking for, it's actually that they're just there to enjoy themselves. They're enjoying looking at the properties. They're getting a sense of the market. Did I buy for the right price? What is my neighbour selling for? What do good kitchens and bathroom designs look like these days? Just enjoying the site and enjoying perusing. I think South Africans, in particular, love this idea of property. We're very house-proud as a nation. So, a property website like ours gets a lot of incidental traffic, lots of guys I think you could call them property addicts - addicted to property and what it's got to offer.
Reporter: Absolutely, you almost dream while you're looking at the website. That is my home, one day. Listen, I want to talk to you about the app, the Private Property app, very, very exciting. It's launched. What goes into making this app? Because obviously, looking at the website, there's so many different factors involved as well.
Simon Bray: It's good that you bring up the app, because that's like the ultimate tool for these property addicts. These people that are just mad about property. They like to get the latest listings, arrive in their pocket, at their fingertips, just browse through everything that's going on. The app really offers them the best experience to do that. We've got a great team of technologists back at the office that really spend time understanding what goes into the user experience that people expect, working on every little feature, every little detail. The planning and the design that goes into where every little pixel is placed is quite exceptional, and I think you see that when you use the app. It's really glossy, smooth, and I think that's what we try and drive towards. Property and finding your next home shouldn't be a difficult process. It should be an awesome experience. Yeah, we certainly try and do that with the app, and it takes countless hours to get it right.
Reporter: So, what is your tip of the day?
Simon Bray: Tip of the day is certainly if you're interested in property on any level, whether you're looking to buy property, rent, or just take a browse, download our app and make sure that you don't miss out.
