Propertyfinder.ae celebrates first year anniversary

The company has achieved remarkable growth in the past year: over 70,000 unique visitors to the site per month (September 2008, Google Analytics), consolidation of the Dubai market position and expansion to Abu Dhabi and the rest of the UAE and the launch of an Arabic version of the site. In 2008 propertyfinder.ae partnered with leading news portals MSN Arabia and Maktoob to deliver still greater reach to its advertisers.

Such is the growth in popularity of propertyfinder.ae that 57% of visitors to the site are from outside the Middle East (September 2008, Google Analytics). Currently more than 20 of the UAE's leading property developers and 130 real estate agencies use propertyfinder.ae to advertise their properties.

Michael Lahyani, CEO of propertyfinder.ae, said:

"During the past 12 months propertyfinder.ae has established itself as a key player in the real estate advertising market. We have created the UAE's leading real estate web portal. Propertyfinder.ae gives international investors unrivalled access to listings, while delivering real return on investment for local developers and agents."

Despite the global economic downturn, propertyfinder.ae saw the number of people visiting the website each month go up from 7,000 unique visitors in January 2008 to over 70,000 unique visitors in September 2008 (Google Analytics).

"We believe the difficult global economy will convince developers and agents to shift more of their advertising money to the web, as they realize it is more cost-effective, provides greater reach and is more measurable than print or other means of marketing. When marketing departments face budget restrictions, they naturally turn to the web, and to propertyfinder.ae," added Lahyani.

Propertyfinder.ae was acquired in November 2007 by the REA Group of Australia (ASX: REA, realestate.com.au Ltd and its subsidiary businesses) whose international network of more than 20 real estate websites reached more than 9.7 million unique visitors in October (Nielsen//NetRatings, Market Intelligence; Nielsen Site Census; Omniture; Google Analytics).