DUBAI 27 September 2022, In The fourth edition of the Pakistan Property Show was held in Dubai on the 10th & 11th of September. Hosted at the Dubai World Trade Center, the annual property expo attracted more than 20,000 visitors over two days. With over 60 exhibitors, the guests had a vast number of properties to choose from.

DAO PropTech’s real estate investment platform is a first of its kind in Pakistan, enabling every Pakistani to start their journey to buying real estate digitally, promising unmatched transparency, a scientific pricing methodology that ensures value added is transferred to the end user, real-time construction tracking, and a personalized portfolio dashboard. 

“This is something that hasn’t been done before in Pakistan, let alone at this expo,” said Arif Habib, a Pakistani ex-pat in Dubai who came to the expo looking to invest in Pakistani real estate. “I was amazed by the level of transparency these guys were providing to everyone who visited their stall. Their business model was top class, and the ease with which I could invest through them while staying in Dubai was the cherry on top,” he added. 

When asked about the company’s first appearance outside of Pakistan, Co-founder and Chief Sales Officer, Owais Barlas said, “This was an excellent opportunity for us to highlight our decentralized real estate investment platform outside of Pakistan. The community’s response has been overwhelming with a record number of investments already locked.” He added, “We’re extremely grateful to everyone who showed up to our stall and took a keen interest in why we do what we do.”

The Pakistani PropTech sphere continues to grow with companies like DAO PropTech spearheading the industry. Unlike traditional real estate in Pakistan, they bring something new to the table – the use of modern technology, data, and a use-case-driven approach. 

Such initiatives are expected to have a ripple effect throughout the industry as customers begin to regain the trust that was tarnished by widespread malpractices and scams. A focus on transparency, security, and customer-centered practices is the way forward for this industry.

Today, real estate is one of the most significant investment avenues for the nation. It also employs one of the highest numbers of unskilled and semi-skilled laborers. However, the real estate sector in the country has had a fair share of ups and downs.

Delays in project delivery, unaffordable/inflated prices, poor construction quality, and changes in project plans without notifications, project cancellations, and profit-hungry mediators became prevalent. This caused a severe trust deficit among the customers towards the sector overall.

To increase foreign exchange reserves for the country, the Government has again entered into another IMF Program to bail itself out. However, this is not a long-term solution but rather a short-term steroid injection. Policymakers should look towards opening the most significant investment avenue to the world and attract investment from all over the globe. That will only be attained if foreign investors have access to data and can monitor their investments.

Speaking to a long-term advocate for transparency in the real estate sector, Jawad Nayyar, Chief Vision Officer at daoproptech.com, said, “A country as rich in resources as Pakistan needs to open its doors to foreign investment. The real estate is prime as per the country’s geolocation, however, transparency in this sector is non-existent. If policy makers can mandate all developers to publish their progress or provide real time access, real estate will become highly lucrative for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). DAO PropTech is an award-winning, digital-ledger based investment platform where users can start their journey to real estate ownership with complete transparency and trust. Not only that, they can also monitor their investments through a personalized digital dashboard.”

Unfortunately, asking foreign investors to rely on the words of the developers, real estate marketing, and sales companies doesn’t make sense. The practices need to change for the economy to evolve and for the diaspora to gain trust and security.