REIDIN Readies Revamped REBIS

Dubai-based real-estate information vendor REIDIN is testing a new version of its REBIS (Real Estate Business Information Service) database, geared more to the needs of local players in emerging real-estate markets rather than providing global databases to international firms.

“The needs of most of our clients changed with the financial crisis,” says REIDIN chief executive Ahmet Kayhan. “We found that most of our global clients only look at data from one country,” and that there was greater need for in-depth data on specific markets from local players such as real-estate agents and local banks that run real-estate portfolios or make loans to developers, Kayhan says.

The vendor began beta testing the new version on Aug. 15, allowing users to subscribe to data for individual countries or regional bundles, and is changing the amount it charges for REBIS – though existing clients will continue to receive the full global database for no additional charge. Currently, the vendor charges $300 per month for the data, though it will price the new version according to individual country datasets – for data from the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Turkey, REIDIN will charge $200 per country, and $100 for each other country covered by the database.

Version 2.0 also includes a display based on Google Maps that allows users to view local maps overlaid with heatmaps, demographical information and occupancy levels, to identify potential investment opportunities. The new version also includes new “comparables” values – trends such as sale and rental prices for an area, average prices, and the number of units for sale.

The next version of REBIS, which the vendor plans to release in around six months, will include local-language interfaces in Russian, Turkish and Arabic.

Author: Max Bowie