Q&A with Gavriel Merkado at REalyse

REalyse is a real estate and analytics platform and their plans for 2019.

Q&A with Gavriel Merkado at REalyse

REalyse chief executive and founder Gavriel Merkado talks to Mortgage Introducer about what bought about the real estate and analytics platform and their plans for 2019.

What is the story behind REalyse?

REalyse started out in 2014 when I was working in property development and trying to find accurate and timely information about what was going on in the market. I couldn't find what I needed and so I started building a system to pull that data together. It gradually evolved and improved and in 2016 it was launched properly after raising some money from some friends and former colleaguesandjoining the PiLabs accelerator programme. Today it's probably the leading residential real estate data system in the UK.

What trends have you been observing in the market over the past 12 months?

The ripple effect out from central London has finally gotten as far as Manchester, in that there are now signs of slight pricing decreases and longer sales times, which is something that wasn't affecting the rest of the country but had been affecting particularly central London. Conversely the time taken to sell properties in London is taking slightly less time now than it was a few months ago, so it could be that things are levelling out a bit.

What have been your key challenges?

It used to be changing attitudes towards using data systems, however that's no longer a problem with more and more companies getting on board and the product getting better and better. Our key challenges now are around expanding our offering in a range of different ways, and finding the right office for the ever growing team!

Do you have a particular highlight since launch?

There are always highlights, it could be hiring a really excellent colleague who has a big impact, or signing with another major real estate brand, or a new product or data launch. I actually just went to ask the team as I couldn't come up with one, and the range of responses was hilarious, so I'll have to say 'working with a unique and very skilled group of people'.

What are your plans for the rest of 2019?

Ah well that's totally secret! Although in the property market that means that everyone probably already knows! We're pretty clear about how we're intending to bring this system to international markets and expanding our product offering to include some very cutting edge services here in the UK. We're due to launch at the end of October our build to rent platform which is specifically designed for the build to rent market. After that, you'll just have to wait and see, but there are some big developments in the pipeline!