KPMG in Qatar recently held a webinar to share insights on the digital developments in the real estate industry in Qatar post-Covid-19.
The event was titled, “Real Estate in Qatar: Can Proptech be a Gamechanger?” and was first in the series of "KPMG Qatar Proptech Talks".
The webinar was organised by KPMG in Qatar to allow attendees to gain insights on the digital transformations introduced to real estate and the factors involved in driving business forward via the use of digital tools.
The webinar included the following KPMG panel of experts: Nizar Hneini, partner, Digital & Innovation Advisory; Anurag Gupta, director and head (Real Estate Advisory); Chakib Ouabi, manager (Digital Transformation), Jan Reinmueller, partner and head (Digital Village – KPMG Singapore).
Qatar’s real estate market has been facing difficult times over the last few years. The economic climate was itself not very conducive, and the sector was further strained with strings of unwanted events beginning from the blockade in 2017 to the Covid-19 in 2020.
It remains unclear as to how things will unfold in the coming days, leaving ample room for uncertainty and disarray, KPMG said. In this turbulent time, "being digital" has helped several companies and institutions to continue their operation quite smoothly and has emerged as the best pal of the economy worldwide, including Qatar.
During the online session, panelists explored a very important question, “Can technology revitalise the world’s largest and oldest sector, which by its very nature is – sedentary, and infuse the much-needed energy and enthusiasm, thereby making it the most sought-after economic sector?”
Hneini said, “The topic of PropTech is definitely exciting and gaining a lot of attention nowadays”.
PropTech could be something to improve how the real estate sector is doing from the way it offers a new approach to accessing clients in the market. The digital experience is about finding better ways to communicate with customers, and companies who have implemented this have experienced the benefits during the Covid-19 crisis, according to a statement.
Being at the crossroads of business and IT, digital is how one can leverage the advance in technology and hone the IT tools necessary to deliver more value to a business. PropTech could be a gamechanger for not only how businesses operate externally, but also internally as employees become more productive using digital tools.
Gupta said, “We must understand the drivers of real estate: real estate is like a tertiary support sector, it is totally depending on how the manufacturing, trading and the service sector perform. When all these sectors perform very well you need people and retail spaces, so real estate also flourishes accordingly.”
