The UAE-based property consultancy Cavendish Maxwell said it will acquire a majority stake in the Emirates’ real estate technology and market intelligence firm Property Monitor.
This acquisition marked Cavendish Maxwell’s first move towards setting up a “real estate innovation hub aimed at bridging the gap between traditional expertise and artificial intelligence-enabled disruptive solutions”, the company said.
The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
“This is also the first step by Cavendish Maxwell in creating a real estate innovation hub for the UAE real estate sector, which will aim at creating hybrid valuation solutions and accelerating the development of data-powered measurement and decision-making tools for its clients,” said Chris Taylor, group chief executive of Cavendish Maxwell.
“The growth of PropTech solutions in the market will only accelerate and Cavendish Maxwell intends to be at the heart of it.”
Established in 2008, Cavendish Maxwell is the largest firm of independent property consultants in the Middle East, the company said.
It has more than 100 employees working in seven offices in the GCC, providing clients with a comprehensive range of services.
PropTech is the application of technology to the real estate industry, creating an ecosystem that encompasses everything from property management and bookings to construction and analytics — all of which is largely accessible through a mobile app.
The global PropTech market is projected to grow to $86.5 billion in 2032 from $18.2 billion this year, at a compound annual rate of almost 17 per cent, data from Future Market Insights show.
“2022 has been a record year for our company in terms of revenue, number of clients and overall adoption of our leading market intelligence product, PMiQ,” said Henri Bacha, chief executive of Property Monitor.
“It has also seen the launch of our suite of property technology solutions, which are gaining traction with brokers, surveyors, developers, banks and portfolio managers alike. We are very excited to offer our real estate innovation and big data expertise to the Cavendish Maxwell group.”
As part of the agreement, Mr Bacha will take on new responsibilities within Cavendish Maxwell as group chief commercial officer, while maintaining his current role with Property Monitor.
Officially launched in 2017, Property Monitor offers PMiQ, the proprietary real estate intelligence platform.
In 2021, it officially launched valuationHub, a suite of PropTech solutions to provide clients with the ability to make real-time decisions that aim to put them ahead of the curve.
