Estate agents offered multi-lingual audio translations to tap into Asian market

As demand from Chinese and other Asian buyers rises for Australian real estate a number of Melbourne agents have signed up to a new translation service which transforms their listing into audio-visual presentations that can be heard in Mandarin, Cantonese and six other languages.

Around 45 offices belonging to the Barry Plant and Stockdale and Leggo franchise networks have signed up to the service, which is provided by US-based technology firm DMI (Digital Motorworks).

Other agencies signed up to use the technology include Noel Jones, LJ Hooker, PRDnationwide and Greg Hocking.

Currently used in the US by around 25,000 car dealers, the technology has been adapted for real estate listings with the project in Australia spearheaded by business development manager Peter Daicos.

The automated service takes the images and editorial provided by the agent and creates a virtual video presentation overlayed with audio in a choice of eight languages - Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Italian, Greek, Korean, Turkish and English.

Stockdale & Leggo are currently selling this three bedroom house in Wheelers Hill, in Melbourne’s south east, with a virtual video and audio commentary offered in eight languages.

According to the 2011 census, more than one in 10 residents (12%) in Wheelers Hill were born in China, the third highest demographic group behind English-born and Australians. The suburb also has a high proportion of Greek and Italian-born residents.

Daicos says new languages to be added to the service will include Vietnamese and Sudanese while DMI is also developing a seperate portal to include listings accesible in the eight languages and due to launch in about a month.

The technology is charged at a flat fee of between $200 and $250 + GST per month, depending on how many listings are to be translated, and is available both for properties for sale and those listed for rent.

If there are 100 properties to be translated, this works out to around $2.50 per week – a fraction of the cost a conventional expensive full production video.

There are also no start-up costs for agent.

“It’s about enhancement and communication,” says Daicos.

“Agents do not have to do anything as we use the existing data feed and images that are used to display their properties statically,” he explains.

The technology is compatible with properties listed on real estate portals such as realestate.com.au, domain.com.au and other listings sites.

It also comes with full reporting to assist agents with understanding consumer trends/ behaviors based on the number and average time the video is played. 

Properties can also be syndicated to YouTube.

Readers can download free Property Observer eBook Australia’s allure for Asian residential property investment, detailing key insights into Asian buying trends and their influence in the Australian market in the Year of the Snake.

Agents interested in the service can send an email to Peter Daicos.