Papua New Guinea’s real estate search has moved online thanks to some local and Australian entrepreneurs. In March 2014 the real estate portal www.hausples.com.pg (pidgin English for ‘house place’) was launched and it has already gathered a lot of momentum with over 9,000 Facebook followers and major site sponsorship from the Bank of South Pacific.
Hausples.com.pg CEO Brian Byer explains “For the last 50 years real estate search in PNG has largely relied on newspaper advertising and leg work by customers. We wanted to bring that search online to make it fast and easy for Papua New Guinean’s to access critical housing information”.
In just a few months real estate agents and property-seekers alike have been turning to Hausples.com.pg, a service that is free to the public. “We’re well on our way to having 1000 properties listed and we’ve had 60,000 page views in the last month alone.” says Brian Byer.
In a sign that there is broad support for a property portal in PNG, the country’s largest Bank – Bank of South Pacific (BSP) has recently agreed to be the major sponsor of the site. “Our relationship with BSP is a natural fit and will not only give us increased exposure and credibility, but it will also help us to provide valuable financial literacy information to our users.” said Brian.
According to BSP Marketing Manager Julie Fraser “BSP has always been at the forefront of innovation. It’s clear that Papua New Guineans are increasingly using the internet to make their lives easier and our sponsorship of Hausples.com.pg is proof of our commitment to supporting our customer’s choices.”
In addition to the BSP partnership, the site has also become the major real estate sponsor of PNG’s leading online magazine Skerah.com.pg. According to Brian “Skerah were probably the first truly online business in PNG having launched 5 years ago and their user-base of early adopters have similarly embraced Hausples.com.pg”
Hausples was founded by long time PNG resident Brian Byer together, with former PNG expat James Rodda and entrepreneur Mathew Care. The team says that given their success in PNG they already exploring new markets “Real estate portals solve inherent inefficiencies associated with marketing property in traditional ways” explains James “we are confident that other emerging markets will move to adopt this technology and we want be at the forefront of that shift”.
