Juwai IQI has announced the first expansion of its IQI real estate agency network into continental Europe through a partnership with local real estate company MA Universe.
MA Universe will rebrand as IQI Portugal, bringing to 19 the number of countries where Juwai IQI has regional offices. IQI Portugal launches with well-established teams in Lisbon, Porto and Algarve. These are all important markets for local buyers, property development and foreign investment.
Asian demand is a fundamental reason for the new partnership, linking the Asian source markets with Portuguese property investment and citizenship services. IQI Portugal can provide Portuguese developers with a single, end-to-end solution for marketing and selling their property to buyers locally and worldwide. The company also gives Portuguese buyers access to more than 6 million property listings in 111 countries and dedicated after-sales service by local agents in the investment countries.
Asian investors, primarily Chinese, account for more than 86% of golden visa-related investment in Portugal, having made an estimated €5 billion in such investments since 2012.
MA Universe’s Gonçalo Pereira is now Chief Executive Officer of IQI Portugal. Elena Tsvet is Chief Operating Officer, and Maria Firmino is Chief Marketing Officer.
Juwai IQI Co-Founder and Group CEO Kashif Ansari said:
“We are delighted to have the excellent team from MA Universe join our network as IQI Portugal. Gonçalo and Elena are two of the most experienced and successful executives in the Portuguese real estate industry and a pleasure to work with.
“IQI Portugal will make it easier for developers and property marketers in Portugal to serve both local and Asian buyers. We already field strong demand for Portuguese property. We expect demand to grow, particularly starting in 2022, as global travel returns and individuals express their post-pandemic emphasis on quality of life.
“During the pandemic, Portugal has demonstrated once again why it is such a popular destination. Golden visa approvals fell by just 5 per cent in 2020. That is much better than the nearly 90 per cent drop in Greece, which offers a competing residency investment program. Many Asian applicants have taken notice, and Portugal is winning market share from its Mediterranean competitor.
Juwai IQI Co-Founder and Group Executive Chairman Georg Chmiel said:
“As part of our group, IQI Portugal can use our platform to improve performance on both the supply and the demand side. They get the benefits of our 5.5 million monthly active users, more than 15,000 agents, 6 million annual listings, the two leading Asian portals for international property, and the real estate super-app, ATLAS.
“Juwai IQI is a technology company in the real estate business. We will put all these tools into the hands of the team at the new IQI Portugal, helping them become even more effective.”
Mr Pereira, Chief Executive Officer of IQI Portugal said:
“Before, we operated alone. Now, we are part of a global team that gives us the most advanced real estate technology and access to a worldwide network of agents in the most popular markets. We are thrilled to create IQI Portugal and join the Juwai IQI real estate technology, group.
“An important reason for our excitement is Juwai IQI’s ability to deliver motivated Asian buyers for Portuguese development projects. Over the past seven years, foreign buyers made 13% of all real estate transactions, on average. Through the visa program alone, foreigners invest more than €800 million per year into Portugal’s golden visa. The total is €5.6 billion since 2013, although not all of this amount went into property. Activity remained strong in 2020, despite the pandemic.
“As IQI Portugal, we can provide better service to local buyers, sellers and developers. We will link overseas-based property buyers with Portuguese real estate and Portuguese buyers with both local and overseas real estate.”
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