AB Majlis podcast: Bayut CEO reveals how AI and transparency are reshaping UAE's real estate market

Arabian Business

a day ago

The UAE's real estate market is undergoing a technological revolution that's fundamentally changing how properties are bought, sold, and valued, according to Haider Khan, CEO of Bayut and Dubizzle, he said on the latest episode of the AB Majlis podcast.
Khan, who leads the region's largest property portal, revealed how artificial intelligence, blockchain tokenisation, and enhanced transparency measures are creating a more efficient and trustworthy marketplace while addressing longstanding industry challenges.
The property listing accuracy problem that once plagued Dubai's market has significantly improved through sophisticated backend integrations with the Dubai Land Department (DLD), Khan explained during the podcast discussion.
'We've been working very closely with the land department, and there's strong technology integrations that exist in the back end that you don't see in the front end, where we ensure that all the properties that are there have a valid permit,' Khan said.
The platform has implemented a comprehensive verification system where brokers must obtain permits from DLD before listings go live. 'We check in the back end from the Land Department if it's a valid permit, and if it is then the listing goes live, otherwise it doesn't,' he added.
Beyond permit verification, Bayut introduced TruCheck, a geolocation-based system requiring agents to physically visit properties and submit geotagged photos. 'We essentially ask the agent or the broker to go to the property and take a snapshot which is geotagged, so that we know that they also have accessibility to the property,' Khan explained.
Elevating broker standards through recognition
The platform's True Broker program represents the first recognition and rewards system of its kind in the region, designed to highlight top-performing agents based on multiple performance metrics.
'We wanted to take the best brokers in the market and highlight them, because the people who provide the best quality of service should hopefully close more business,' Khan said. The system evaluates responsiveness, listing quality, lead interaction speed, and property accessibility.
The program has created an organic marketplace for property sellers. 'There are people looking to sell properties [who] don't necessarily know where to start. It's become a very good tool for organically reaching out to brokers to actually sell your property as well,' he noted.
Dubai's sustainable growth trajectory
Addressing concerns about market overheating, Khan expressed confidence in Dubai's continued growth potential, citing comparative affordability and strong fundamentals.
'If you start looking at price per square foot and you compare to some similar cities across the world, Dubai is still very affordable from that angle,' he said. 'The last two, I would say three years have really been fantastic and remarkable in terms of the growth that we've seen in the industry, but I think there's more room left.'
Khan pointed to publicly available bubble index reports showing Dubai at extremely low risk levels. 'Dubai is extremely low on the risk side, it's a lot of it is in the green side. So that gives us a lot of excitement about what's to come in the future.'
Supply dynamics also support continued growth, particularly in the villa segment. 'If I look at the villa side, there's not that many units hitting the market in the next year or a couple of years, and I think the absorption on that side should be pretty good,' he explained.
Fractional ownership and regulatory innovation
The Dubai Land Department's recent launch of fractional ownership experiments represents a significant regulatory evolution that could democratise property investment access.
'DLD launched this experiment which is fractional ownership, or tokenising real estate, and that's going to be interesting,' Khan said. 'It opens up this asset class to a lot of people which historically haven't had access to this, because properties are not cheap, but once you break it down to smaller chunks, it becomes pretty interesting.'
While acknowledging the need for proper financial product regulation, Khan expressed optimism about the potential market expansion this could enable.
Bayut has emerged as a regional pioneer in AI-powered property search, launching the first conversational AI tool allowing users to describe their property requirements in natural language.
'We launched Bayut GPT which is you can just have a conversation with it in terms of how you want to look for your property, and that gives us a lot of insights into what people are actually looking for,' Khan explained. 'When you can converse with somebody, it's very interesting because you actually start understanding what they're really after.'
The platform has also introduced AI-powered listing generation across its broader marketplace. 'We have this feature which is 'sell with AI', so all you need to do is just take a snapshot and it really generates the listing for you. It generates the ad for you, even guides you in terms of how you should price it.'
The future of real estate agents
Despite AI advances, Khan firmly believes human agents remain irreplaceable in high-value transactions like real estate.
'AI is not going to take your job, but is your job going to be the same job that you do every day today? No. Should you be more productive? Yes. Do you know how to use AI to your benefit? Yes, you should,' he said.
The human element becomes crucial for expensive purchases requiring trust and guidance. 'Property is perhaps one of the most expensive things that people buy in their lives. You need a certain factor of trust, and I think that really the human touch is important, somebody giving you that reassurance and even guiding you through the process.'
Virtual tours vs. traditional methods
Contrary to industry expectations, virtual reality and 3D property tours haven't achieved widespread adoption, with traditional photography remaining the preferred medium for initial property screening.
'The main medium that we've seen over the years that hasn't changed is pictures,' Khan noted. 'You can get a lot more from pictures in a very short amount of time than you can from a video or VR.'
Consumer behaviour analysis shows efficiency preferences drive this trend. 'You can go through 10 properties very quickly [with pictures]. If you start watching VR for each one, that can be pretty taxing time-wise,' he explained.
Advanced valuation and market intelligence
The platform operates eight to ten different AI models for its TruEstimate property valuation tool, while recent acquisition of Property Monitor enhances market intelligence capabilities.
'We're pretty excited about what we can build on top of that and just not show you transaction data, but also start showing you what the demand looks like,' Khan said of the Property Monitor integration.
Looking ahead, Khan revealed ambitious AI development plans, including room-level inventory management. 'Wouldn't it be nice if you just take a picture of the entire room and you can pick up all the items and you don't need to create 10 items? We can create that room sale for you.'
Market evolution and future outlook
Khan positioned the real estate portal evolution from simple classified advertising to sophisticated data platforms providing market insights and predictive analytics.
'We can become very strong data platforms or insight platforms,' he said. 'The point is how can we educate the user at the same time and the brokers and everybody to build that stronger connection that's based on actual factual information.'
The technological transformation reflects broader market maturation, with transparency, efficiency, and user experience becoming key competitive differentiators in the UAE's dynamic real estate landscape.
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