Building a property listing site for Dubai: what does the market actually require, and where do new portals compete?

[richa12]

I’m looking at what it would take to launch a real estate listing marketplace aimed at Dubai, and I’d like views from people who know the market before going further.

For context, now I am a part of marketing at Originate Soft, which makes a PHP property listing script, and I’m testing how well it fits Dubai’s requirements. So I’m not a neutral voice. I’d like to hear where it, or any script, would fall short.

What I think a Dubai build needs:

• Permit numbers shown on every ad (the Trakheesi system, as I understand it), plus agent and agency verification. Please correct me if the rules have changed.
• Buy, rent, off-plan and commercial listings, each with different fields (payment plans for off-plan, Ejari for rentals)
• Search by community and building (Marina, Downtown, JVC), not just city and price
• Map search, because location drives most decisions
• Arabic and English with proper right-to-left layout, and AED pricing
• Agent profiles, lead forms, and WhatsApp and call tracking, since most enquiries start there

From the script side, the features I’m checking against that list are [feature 1, e.g. agent and agency dashboards], [feature 2, e.g. map-based search], and [feature 3, e.g. multi-language support]. I’d rather hear which of these actually matter in Dubai than assume.

Questions for people who know the market:

1. Bayut, Property Finder and Dubizzle dominate. Is there still room for a new portal, or only in a niche such as off-plan, rentals or one community?
2. Which listing fields or tools do users expect that a general script wouldn’t have?
3. How do you handle listing quality and duplicates when many agents post the same unit?
4. Would you build on a ready-made script or go custom for a regulated market like this?

Happy to hear blunt feedback.

 

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