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Suffering from Zillow withdrawal while traveling overseas? Below find some of the top real estate search engines from around the globe.
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As a real estate office full of travel-lovers, we all suffer from the habit of checking out the real estate anytime we go ANYWHERE. One street over, New York, New Orleans, Nashville, Paris, Oslow, anywhere. Of course we are not alone; we are probably now pushing the norm. Because who, in the modern era of constant access to the attractive promise of all the other lives one could be living, can resist the urge to look? The wonderfully curated online real estate market is as airbrushed and glorified as everything else online today, and even the best of us are preconditioned to succumb to the appeal of that house down the street, or across the ocean, with the bigger, greener lawn.
But don’t worry, the purpose of this article is not to judge this weakness, but rather to indulge it. Because for better or worse; we love it.
Zillow has irrefutably commandeered the market for online property voyeurism in the United States for years now. But Zillow’s reach does not go far beyond our borders. So how does the rest of the world get by without it, and how can you get your “fix” when you are traveling abroad?
We got you.
AUSTRALIA
Australia’s top real estate site is incredibly user friendly, and offers a great mobile app and both residential and commercial listings. With an average of over 3 million visitors each month, you probably already found this one if you have ever been to Australia.
CANADA
Zillow.ca and Realtor.ca
So Zillow recently (finally) expanded into Canada. The alternative to it is Realtor.ca, operating similarly to how it does here in the US.
CHINA
Fang is the largest portal for listings in China. With over 650 cities listings in the database, there is plenty to look at here.
EAST AFRICA
Buy Rent Kenya impresses the most in East Africa. A start up, its database has already become not only the top real estate search portal in Kenya, one of East Africa’s largest economies, but also a top website across all genres in Kenya in popularity. It was recently acquired by a Swiss Company (Ringier) that appears to be scooping up several international real estate portals in emerging markets.
Rightmove is your best bet for the United Kingdom, and it also lists a plethora of real estate s in France and Spain. Overall, Europe is a pretty fragmented country when it comes to real estate portals, but this is one of the largest. For luxury property in Europe you can also check out the European Real Estate Network (Eren). If the country you have your heart set on, or that you plan on traveling to soon is not on our list, shoot us an email. A lot of countries and sites did not make this short article but we have allllll the links.
FRANCE
The leading site in France. With one of our colleagues based in France, we are well aware of how many of you dream about purchasing a hot mess of old farmhouse there. Your French chateau awaits on this site.
MIDDLE EAST
Just Property Group
This relatively new Dubai-based site has become incredibly popular in the Middle East, likely due to its easy to use interface. Starting in the United Arab Emirates, the sites 2015 reach into Saudi Arabia and Qatar, followed by its even more recent expansions into Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon have made the Just Property Group a must for real estate loving travelers to the Middle East.
INDIA
99 Acres leads the scene in India. Its platform includes a commercial listing component, and it offers, in my non-tech savvy opinion, a solid mobile app as well.
NORTH AFRICA
Moroccan based Sarouty, is a leg of the larger PropertyFinder, another popular Middle Eastern real estate portal that thus far only offers North African listings in Morocco. Having recently acquired another popular and competing Moroccan real estate site, it has become the undeniable go-to for the country. Its continued expansion into other North African countries seems inevitable.
SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa’s best go-to is Private Property. In addition to traditional sales, it also offers listings of distressed (bank) sales, and even has a tenant screening service option for landlords on its’ rental side. One stop shop.
SOUTH AMERICA
First launched in Spain, Trovit has become the leading classifieds source of several European and Latin American Countries. Trovit’s real estate platform now serves over 50 Countries, and is probably going to be best source if you are in South America.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
With a slogan of “Moving Asia Online” the Dot Property Group covers several Southeast Asian countries with country specific sites. Established only in 2013, it already operates property portals in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore.
ROMANIA
Romania is one of the countries we are including in our list because it is often overlooked by investors and tourists alike. But Romania has come a long way in the last decade, and our savviest international Real Estate investors and adventurous travelers are looking at its real estate these days. Imobiliare is a good starting point for anyone travelling there with serious intentions for investment.
RUSSIA
Yandex is Russia’s version of Google, and it is also a great real estate portal. Their search engine has some really great filters that we wish Zillow or realtor.com offered here in the States; namely the ability to search by air quality, infrastructure, and transport accessibility.
WEST AFRICA
Ghanaian startup meQasa strives to become Ghana’s Zillow. Three years into business it has certainly established itself as the country’s leading real estate resource. As an up and coming leader in West Africa, it remains to be seen if it spreads beyond its borders.
WORLDWIDE
You have probably heard of this one – Juwai is the largest international real estate search engine in today’s market. While this China-based site is intended for Chinese looking to invest internationally, it’s offering of more than 2 million global listings in 90 countries on one platform is an impressive resource for any savvy buyer. Juwai is also an endless source of great information, offering guides to overseas investments and immigration policies in several hot markets. In sum, if you are not just a dreaming window-shopper but are instead looking to make a serious investment, this is a good site for you.
Happy real, or make-believe, house-hunting.