Kuwait’s largest online classifieds platform, 4Sale, announced on Monday that it had launched an immersive reality-focused real estate platform 4Sale Realty.
Leveraging Matterport‘s volumetric capturing technologies and solutions, 4Sale Realty hopes to reinvigorate the Kuwaiti property market. For many, the process of buying, renting, and selling is mostly limited to in-person and ‘virtual’ video tours.
However, with 4Sale, the new digital experiences aim to add a ‘new dimension’ to its national realty market by leveraging Matterport-based 3D tours. This can showcase listed properties in a fully-immersive viewing format to guide prospective buyers around volumetrically-captured properties.
نقدم تجربة عقارية جديدة لأول مرة في الكويت… عقارات 4Sale.️
Introducing a brand new property experience for the first time in Kuwait… 4Sale Realty. ️#الكويت #4Sale pic.twitter.com/lhOB2hYPwR
— 4SALE (@Q84SALE) November 30, 2022
Employing Matterport’s tools also provides property curators with accurate measurement tools, allowing users to view “granular dimension for each property,” the company said in a statement.
With its world-renowned volumetric capturing tools, Matterport incorporates Autodesk designs and seamless digital twin technologies for architectural, engineering, and construction (AEC), virtual showrooms, retail, and other industrial use cases.
This comes as 4Sale Realty launches its dedicated virtual space for realtors to manage their properties with end-to-end solutions to curate listings. These involve offering 3D tours, facilitating property sales, and seeking out tenants, among other services.
Doing so allows the Kuwait City, Kuwait company to increase engagement for prospective buyers and sellers, leading to a creative, thriving property market.
Kuwait Realtors Awaits GenZ, Gen Alpha Market Growth
The news comes as analysts expect the Persian Gulf country’s economy to expand roughly 2.5 percent. By boosting interactivity for realtors, the nation hopes to expedite this by boosting property demand for younger tenants, namely Gen Z and Gen Alphas.
As the latest addition to the 4Sale marketplace, the company aims to level up its offering to the Kuwaiti real estate market. This comes after the company hosted over 60,000 property listings across the country, indicating its instrumental role in sales and lettings in the Middle East region.
It also comes amid Kuwait’s plans to digitally transform its services, following efforts from Dubai and Saudi Arabia, who have inked their respective 2030 XR and metaverse strategies.
Kuwait also aims to digitally transform its governmental services and data hosting capabilities, as well as launch a nationwide digital skills programme. 4Sale aims to contribute to these efforts with its massive, recently launched immersive initiative.
In a statement, Tarek Sakr, Chief Executive, 4Sale, explained,
“4Sale never sits still, and we are delighted to launch 4Sale Realty to our customers in Kuwait. Housing demand is projected to rise continuously, and the sector is ripe for technological disruption. We have developed a digital real estate experience to transform the process of buying, selling and renting property in Kuwait. Part of 4Sale’s rapid growth is driven by a deeper expansion into key verticals – such as real estate where we already had a strong market position – and I am very excited for consumers to experience it.”
Dubai Initiatives Vision for National Metaverse
The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) assertive push to develop its Web3, metaverse, and telecom capabilities have seen similar companies launch their own realtor strategies.
For example, DAMAC Properties developed a metaverse project capable of hosting digital properties for its luxury real estate clients.
Some of its esteemed brand collaborators include Paramount Hotels and Resorts, Versace Home, Raddison, Rotana, The Trump Organization, and Cavalli, among others.
Ali Sajwani, Managing Director, DAMAC, explained at the time his firm aimed to kick off the project last March after buying virtual land on The Sandbox.
He said in an event at the time,
“At DAMAC we are looking into different ways to include NFTs and the metaverse. As you know DAMAC is not only a multi-billion dollar property developer but also holds brands such as Roberto Cavalli (purchased in 2019). So, while most use the term Metaverse loosely we think it is much more and we have come up with a solution where we bridge the physical and digital assets to allow for cross-utilization”
According to reports, DAMAC hoped to attract clients to the Metaverse with his virtual real estate platform. Incorporating Web3 and digital assets can showcase some of the UAE’s most luxurious properties, adding “utility to the NFTs and [helping] build the roadmap,” the company indicated.
EnvisionVR Brings Off-the-Plan Properties to Life
Furthermore, Australian property and architectural firm EnvisionVR spoke to XR Today about the firm’s ambitions for the off-the-plan property market.
At the time, Founder and Managing Director Michael Shaw and Amy Farrington, Head of Sales and Marketing, offered their insights on the need for such solutions in Australia and worldwide.
Using immersive solutions, the company could allow engineers, building firms, and potential buyers to view apartments and houses in high-fidelity 3D imaging before contractors developed the properties.
The COVID-19 pandemic fuelled demand for the solution, which continued to grow after markets reopened. From EnvisionVR’s analysis, their virtual platform allowed developers to save time and money, deploy their designs anywhere in the world, and create on-the-fly customisations prior to the virtual visits.
