With the promise of transforming the market for housing for rent In Mexico, the Brazilian unicorn QuintoAndar begins operations in the country under the Benvi platform and thus seeks to replicate the model and success it has had in Brazil, where it currently manages 175,000 apartments and has served more than half a million people in its nine years of operation. operation.
In an interview, Nicolás Tejerina, Director of International Operations at QuintoAndar, indicated that the market for housing for rent in Mexico it is very fragmented, where most of the operations take place between the owner of a property and the potential tenant, which generates uncertainty and risks in the relationship, for which Benvi, through processes and digital tools, will seek generate certainty for both parties.
“In Mexico, the specific opportunity is that we see very digitized users, but we see a market of rental very fragmented and atomized that is not yet managed at a professional level, but rather direct treatment between owner and tenant and that relationship is risky because any problem with the property starts discussions between tenants and owners,” said Tejerina.
Mexico is the first country outside of Brazil where QuintoAndar will try to replicate its business model that it has carried out in the South American nation. Tejerina recognized that the bet is ambitious; however, Benvi will seek to have a good start with the introduction of different innovations in the market, such as:
- Guarantee the guarantee for the potential tenant.
- Ensure the payment of rent to the owner of the property.
- Property damage protection guarantee for up to 200,000 pesos.
- Digitization throughout the process.
According to Tejerina, this model will be able to reduce by up to 30% the time that it normally takes to close a home rental transaction.
“Today in Brazil we have almost total coverage, we operate in 75 cities there and a bit of the mission in Mexico will be that, that is, that Benvi be recognized as the rental platform for the common Mexican and success will be measured that way “, limited the director of QuintoAndar.
conjuncture will support
Tejerina acknowledged that Benvi arrives in Mexico at a time when the pandemic has educated the Mexican consumer who demands more digital solutions, so the platform will seek to live up to those demands.
“We are facing consumers who are more educated, who require digital solutions, but there is still little of that to attack the problem of housing for rent. Mexico is one of the strongest economies in the region, we believe it is large enough that our challenge here is ambitious,” said the manager.
Likewise, Tejerina stressed that the current moment is tied with the objective of consolidating Benvi, because in the face of an increase in interest rates, this will cause loans for home purchase to become more expensive, for which a good time is in sight for the rental of places to live in Mexico.
“We are seeing that at the level of traffic volume the search for rent is growing and not the search for purchase and it has to do with these macroeconomic conditions,” Tejerina said.
long-term vision
QuintoAndar was the first Unicorn proptech (real estate technology) from Latin America, after it closed an important investment in September 2019, led by SoftBank, which generated a valuation of more than 1,000 million dollars. Currently, there are two unicorns more proptech in the region: Loft (Brazil) and Tuhabi (Colombia).
From its inception to date, the firm founded by Andre Penha and Gabriel Braga has raised a total of more than 755 million dollars in eight rounds of financing, which has generated a value of more than 5,000 million dollars.
In its history, the firm has made five acquisitions, such as the one in February of this year when it acquired Navent Group, a real estate classifieds firm that operates in different countries, including Mexico with the Inmuebles24 platform.
Tejerina stated that the intentions of QuintoAndar in Mexico is to replicate its business model in different cities of the country, with the support of its allies such as Inmuebles24, as well as real estate agents seeking to promote a property for rent.
“Benvy in no way comes to replace real estate agents or real estate agents, on the contrary, it comes to facilitate transactions, it comes to help many consultants who have been operating independently, who are going to be able to publish for bringing their properties, we are going to help them with services,” Tejerina stressed.
For the director of QuintoAndar, if the market for the housing for rentFairer prices will be possible and this will also encourage competition, of which the firm sees favorably, because that means that Mexico means business for all the participants in the ecosystem.