In a survey of its Irish buyer base, BidX1 found that over 70% of investors would still buy in the current market, and 56% would be willing to purchase a property without physically viewing it.
The Irish firm, which currently operates in five markets, has continued to see steady sales taking place despite the national lockdown, due to its innovative approach to property sales – almost €7m-worth of Irish property was sold through the platform last month.
In their most recent round of sales, BidX1 opened bidding on 17 Irish properties, including four retail units at Quartiere Bloom on Lower Ormond Quay, originally coined the ‘Italian Quarter’. The BidX1 commercial team set a minimum opening bid of €850,000 on the units and let competitive bidding drive the final sale price up to €1,042,000.
BidX1’s user profile skews towards investors, many of whom are cash-buyers. Almost 90% of survey respondents were already planning to buy a property this year, 74% of which intended to finance that purchase through cash.
Notably, more than 70% said they would buy in the current environment.
While 56% would be willing to buy a property without physically viewing it, only 14% would do so at any price. 17% would buy without a viewing up to a budget of €200,000. A further 25% would only do so for properties priced up to €100,000.
Jonathan Fenn, Director at BidX1 Ireland, said: “It’s interesting that such a high proportion of those surveyed – 73% – would make a purchase as things stand, in a market characterised by uncertainty. This contrasts with Bank of Ireland’s most recent Economic Pulse index, which found that only 30% considered it a good time to buy.
“This discrepancy is likely accounted for by the make-up of our database, a cohort of savvy buyers seeking opportunities for investment.
“Overall, what’s clear from the responses is that there is still appetite from investors, where certain conditions are met: strong value propositions via competitive ‘minimum opening bids’, and technology in place to facilitate secure and efficient online purchases. This tallies with our transactional data for April; we’ve seen steady sales taking place, despite the lockdown.”
As with all BidX1 sales, all of the bidding is displayed in real-time on the platform, along with the final sale price for each property.
BidX1 has created a unique position in the market, allowing buyers and sellers from around the world to trade property assets using technology developed in Dublin. The PropTech company currently operates in the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Spain and Cyprus, with expansion into other European markets planned to meet the demand for an alternative to existing sales processes.
Earlier this year, BidX1 announced a partnership with Foxtons, one of London's leading estate agencies, which has seen the UK company offering properties in London and the Home Counties for sale via the BidX1 digital platform. In South Africa, BidX1 has teamed up with Pam Golding Properties, the country's leading property group. PGP boasts a network of 2,000 agents working in over 300 offices across the continent.
As the property industry in Ireland struggles under the weight of Corona-related restrictions, BidX1 has announced that it will make its platform available to other real estate vendors, allowing them to complete sales online.
The BidX1 platform facilitates end-to-end digital transactions, from listing to exchange of contracts. This has meant minimum disruption for potential investors, who can access all of the legal documents online, view properties virtually using video walk-throughs or drone footage, and submit offers and deposits through the platform. The latter is followed by digital contract exchange.
BidX1’s research was undertaken over the past fortnight, with more than 4,000 people surveyed.
-------
Keep up-to-date: Follow us on LinkedIn.
