Offmarket property sales fuelled by Chinese...
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31 Stott Street in Box Hill South sold to a buyer who saw the property on WeChat. Photo: Supplied Offmarket deals are favoured by home buyers who want to get ahead of the game, and those who can read Chinese may now have an edge. Agents are posting an increasing number of properties on Chinese socialmedia platforms such as WeChat before advertising them to the general market, meaning many of them are being snapped up behind closed doors. Users have described the mobile app as a Chinese version of Facebook, with animated emoticons called "stickers" and group chat and video call functions, similar to those of Whatsapp and Viber. WeChat is increasingly used by agents to tap into the Chinese market. Photo: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg Jellis Craig agent Greg Bowring said he had sold a number of properties to buyers who saw his posts on the free messaging and calling app, including an offmarket sale at 31 Stott Street in Box Hill South. "We had buyers from our books and from other properties come through, but eventually the buyer was from WeChat," he said. June 2, 2015 Christina Zhou Domain reporter View more articles from Christina Zhou Email Christina s Email article Print Reprints & permissions Offmarket property sales fuelled by Chinese social media
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7/5/2015 Offmarket property sales fuelled by Chinese social media
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31 Stott Street in Box Hill South sold to a buyer who saw the property on WeChat. Photo: Supplied
Offmarket deals are favoured by home buyers who want to get ahead of the game, and those who can read Chinese may now have an edge.
Agents are posting an increasing number of properties on Chinese socialmedia platforms such as WeChat before advertising them to thegeneral market, meaning many of them are being snapped up behind closed doors.
Users have described the mobile app as a Chinese version of Facebook, with animated emoticons called "stickers" and group chat and video callfunctions, similar to those of Whatsapp and Viber.
WeChat is increasingly used by agents to tap into the Chinese market. Photo: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
Jellis Craig agent Greg Bowring said he had sold a number of properties to buyers who saw his posts on the free messaging and callingapp, including an offmarket sale at 31 Stott Street in Box Hill South.
"We had buyers from our books and from other properties come through, but eventually the buyer was from WeChat," he said.
June 2, 2015
Christina Zhou
Domain reporter
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Offmarket property sales fuelled by Chinese socialmedia
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"There has been a couple of ones that are strictly undisclosed...including a big $4 million sale in central Balwyn."
Mr Bowring said he was introduced to WeChat by his Chinese colleagues, who also helped him write the posts, which are predominantly inChinese.
He sees the app as "another avenue of connection" with the Chinese market.
"At open for inspections, I have a page on display with my QR code and the buyers come in and scan it and connect with me online," he said.
"Sometimes when I list a property, or if someone wants a quiet sale, I might post something on WeChat.
"And sometimes it results in three to six inspections prior to even hitting the actual real market."
Esther Yong, director of Chinese language real estate website ACProperty.com.au, believes the app has changed the property industry.
She said the inquiries they received showed buyers had a preference to communicate via the app, so they were now in the process of launchinga WeChat button for buyers to contact the agent.
Though it is still Chinese realestate agents who are predominantly using WeChat, she said some major agencies were now looking into creatingan official account much like pages on Facebook.
Ms Yong is also seeing an increasing number of agents using their accounts to post information on properties that may not yet be on themarket.
"When [the agents] go for the viewings, they take photos and then post it on WeChat," she said.
"Before [the properties] are formally on the market, they may be getting inquiries already."
Brett Ayles, of Village Real Estate in the inner west, is hoping to tap into the Chinese market through WeChat, but said the app wasn't foreveryone.
"For your average agent...it's not really going to have a huge impact on their business, unless they're over in the Chinese hotspots in the southeast or the inner east," he said.
"But for the agents who put in the effort to learn the language, the results would be 100fold as you can record verbal messages, so ittranscends the time zone and cultural difference as well.
"I think you can open enormous markets there and buyers feel comfortable with the bilingual Australian person."
Though the inner west is currently less targeted by Chinese buyers, Mr Ayles believes it will be increasingly discovered for its value.
Lucy Jiang of Marshall White, who originally downloaded the app to stay connected with her family in Beijing, said more people were now usingthe app for business purposes.
She said "really cute cartoon stickers" (much like oversized emoticons) can "soften the conversation", and believes the app is also helping her tobuild relationships.
"If my clients post anything I can see their post as well, so...I know what their interests [are]," she said.
"It's a different [way] of building relationships and most of the Chinese clients don't use Facebook at all because they [don't] find it as convenientas WeChat, and it has more privacy."
Buyers' agent Cate Bakos is also using WeChat to communicate with agents and her clients.
She said the app, like many social media platforms, reduced the cost of communication and helped her report her findings to buyers moreefficiently.
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