Only More Supply Can Solve Ireland’s Housing Crisis, But Better Technology Use Can Ease The Pain

Ireland’s housing market is tough and the rental market is even tougher; a shortage of homes means people are struggling to either rent or buy.

As the current lack of supply looks unlikely to ease anytime soon, Daft.ie has renewed its focus on making the lives of estate agents, homeowners and renters easier, Daft.ie Chief Commercial Officer Adam Ferguson said. The company is doing so through innovation and new technology.

“It’s difficult for anyone to rent or buy a home right now,” he said. “The only solution is more supply, and we can’t fix that. So we’re looking at solutions to improve the experience and make it as pain-free as possible for everyone involved.”

Ireland’s population is growing rapidly and is predicted to top 6 million by 2050, up from 4.76 million in 2017. This growth is coupled with an increasing lack of available housing. On 1 February, there were 1,096 homes advertised to rent, down more than 20% on the same day a year previously and a quarter of average availability from 2015 to 2019.

“The rental market is really challenging,” Ferguson said. “When build-to-rent arrived, everyone was excited but there were challenges with planning permission and we didn’t get the unit volume that we could have. Now funding has become a challenge. The population is growing because we have the jobs, but we don’t have the homes.”

On the house sales side, Ferguson said the market is less stretched as new developments are being delivered, but there is still a shortage of secondhand homes. This lack of homes is not only frustrating people looking for a home, but is starting to harm Ireland’s attractiveness as a location for business operations. 

For the last two years, Daft.ie has been investigating ways to simplify the housebuying process. The company has invested heavily in technology that will help the industry operate in a way that suits consumers today, Ferguson said. 

In 2022, Daft.ie launched Offers by Daft, a real-time online platform that allows buyers to place an offer on a home anytime, from anywhere. Buyers, sellers and agents receive instant updates when an offer is placed. 

This is how consumers want to transact, Ferguson said; 40% of consumer bidding happens at night and outside working hours according to Daft.ie. Today, consumers want to be able to make an offer on a house with the same convenience that they have in other aspects of their lives.

“When you’re bidding on a house, you play phone tennis with the estate agent every day,” he said. “Before you know it, it’s 5:40 on a Friday evening and you’re going to have to wait until Monday to find out whether your bid has been successful, or to even make a bid. The same goes when you’re selling a house.”

Daft.ie’s platform pre-approves potential buyers, checking proof of funding. Once approved they can bid when they choose to. After a bid has been placed, the potential buyer can see how many other bids there are and make a decision about their next move instantly. 

“These are big life moments for people,” Ferguson said. “You might sell one house in your lifetime and what you get for it could have a huge impact on whether you can afford to move. Stress is the difference between expectation and reality, so any increase in transparency will help that stress dissipate.”

Some agents might be concerned that this technology will take away an opportunity to create a personal relationship with buyers, but that isn’t the case, Ferguson said. Instead it’s an opportunity to develop a brand.

“They will benefit by making the process as easy as possible for the consumer,” he said. “Agents get business through word of mouth and a consumer is more likely to recommend them if they have had a good experience. Agents who embrace technology already love this tool. Being able to transact 24/7 is a consumer expectation and, in the end, the consumer gets what they want.”

Daft.ie has also increased the options an agent has for advertising a property. Daft Advantage Ads are aimed at allowing agents to make a more conscious investment in how they market homes by providing flexibility, Ferguson said. 

“By using an advert, an estate agent could get up to 10 times more visibility,” he said. “More viewings will bring more bidders, which will help get the best price possible. For agents, the real competition happens in the space of winning instructions, so this is a way to get a brand out there.”

While Daft.ie has focused on innovating in the house sales space for the last two years, the company is now turning its attention to the rental market, Ferguson said. The team is going to look at how new technology can make the process easier, even as supply issues continue. 

Ferguson said he believes AI will play a bigger role in how homes are advertised and transacted in the near future. Daft.ie currently only uses AI to power its Instant Online Valuation tool, which gives homeowners a free indication of what their property might be worth. 

“We are talking about several uses, such as should we use AI to write advertising copy?” he said. “Or to enrich the language used in listings by reading images — you could search for houses with a sea view, for example. Or to predict what issues someone might have and respond beforehand. All this will be possible, but it’s not possible yet.”

This article was produced in collaboration between Daft.ie and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.