Property fairs are still happening pretty often. Every now and then we would see property fairs being launched and these days, it does seem that the number of people dropping by these fairs are dropping. It’s not that hard to see why. The number of events by the developers themselves are rising. At this moment, there are 50 SMSes that is unread in my smartphone. Most of them from property developers. If you ask me whether times are bad however, my answer would be for everyone to look at the profit / loss numbers for listed developers. The market has been slow since 2013, not last month. If times are truly bad, then many of these listed developers would start to show the effects soon, when publish their annual reports. If you ask me whether the property developers are now putting more effort to attract better, then the answer is a firm YES.
It’s no longer advertise once, everyone comes during the launching and the sales and marketing team can relax after one weekend of frenzy. People were even paid to queue up just a few years ago. Today, it’s more like keep thinking of different marketing activities, continue engaging and smiling every customer that walk in and continue to sell one unit after another over weeks or months before the developer could sell enough units to start the construction. Of course there are still developers who start their construction earlier if they have a deeper pocket. Many developments are also completed with developers still having unsold units. So, should developers still join property fairs? It’s important to see if the property fair is an essential affair for the buyers or not. In other words, are there benefits for the home buyers or the potential home buyers?
I am still visiting property fairs but I think it’s important for developers to do lots of homework before and after the fair. Direct advertisements push a wide coverage while indirect ones, especially those with more objective reviews would help them to target the right buyers. Unfortunately, if the buyers do not know enough, then of course they would not decide fast enough. Property fairs should have non-stop property related talks. Nope, not those talks from the developer spokespersons. For those kind of talks, the developers could just do a video and put it online in their website. If they launch a project without even having a proper website, then all the best to them. This is 2017… no longer 2007. The talks should cover different property related topics because this will help buyers understand what is really happening.
The reason why people are still asking, ‘Should I buy?’ or ‘When is the best time to buy,’ simply meant that they have no knowledge about the market at all. By the way, should I buy is not answered with a YES. It’s answered with real numbers, with historical numbers, with references to property markets elsewhere for example. When people learn, they are more comfortable. If there are no other gains than just to view the property developer’s booth, actually, that could also be gained by visiting the developers’ websites too. Do continue to visit property fairs but I think it’s worth looking at all the happenings in the property fair before deciding whether or not to drop by. Of course that advantage of having all different projects under one same roof is the most attractive point of all. Just note that this final point is usually only for the serious buyers. Should we not cater to those who are 50-50 or even those who may buy in the future as well? Cheers.
written on 1 Oct 2017
Next suggested article: Median age below 30. Property……… or Safe to buy why not. Challenging time, sure too.
