The acquisition, like others, comes as Rocket Internet-owned Lamudi tries to gain larger presence in Asia
Rocket Internet-owned property portal, Lamudi has just announced the acquisition of Indonesian property portal Propertykita, which now goes by Lamudi.co.id.
According to a statement from Lamudi, “Following the merger, traffic from Propertykita will be merged with Lamudi Indonesia, as Lamudi continues to grow in Indonesia’s thriving online property market.”
The acquisition of Propertykita will add yet another country to Lamudi’s network which, at the moment, has operations in over 30 countries across Asia, Africa, Middle East and Latin America.
According to the company, across the global network, there are currently more than 900,000 residential and commercial property listings.
In February this year, Lamudi raised US$18 million in investment to grow its operations in Asia and Latin America, as well as to improve product functionality.
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Indonesia: major draw for global investors
Paul Philipp Hermann, Co-founder and Managing Director, Lamudi Global said, “With the capacity for strong economic growth in the long-term, Indonesia’s real estate industry has an abundance of opportunities. With the country’s tech-savvy, growing middle-class, the country has the potential to become one of the world’s biggest online markets.”
This announcement comes three weeks after Lamudi’s acquisition of myproperty in the Philippines.
Indonesia is one of the most attractive markets in Asia right now, with some sources pegging the value there at approximately US$250 million. The country also has the largest population in the region and, by far, the largest middle-class. Therefore it would seem that such a move from Lamudi is well-timed.
However, according to data from the Bank Of Indonesia, the property market is not all rosy. According to the report, property sales rose by 7.88 per cent during the year to end-Q2 2014, but this is a significant slowdown on 12.11 per cent year-on-year price increase, during the same period last year, and this number is not set to improve anytime soon as a slowdown of expatriate property investment means that demand for high-value property will diminish.
The weakening Rupiah is not helping the situation either, as inflation rises for local buyers.
In fact, the capital, Jakarta, had a year-on-year increase of only 0.25 per cent.
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Overall though, Indonesia is a market in which the sheer 300 million population will always be a major draw for foreign companies. Only time will tell if Lamudi has made the right move with this acquisition.
The post Rocket Internet’s Lamudi acquires Indonesia property site Propertykita appeared first on e27.