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Our main business strategies are:
To provide brokerage services of developments in the primary market (launches) and secondary (resale of previously owned real estate), and in the promotion of mortgage financing in areas with prospects of development and growth in Brazil. Moreover, the Company is after new products, services and businesses to develop in the segments in which it operates.
Prospect of developer-clients in the primary market. On the past few years, we focused our efforts to attract new large, medium and small-sized developer-clients and in different stages of business development. In this direction, we guarantee that the strategy is successful and we currently work with more than 400 developer-clients in Brazil, presenting a solid and pulverized client portfolio.
Expansion in the secondary market. We expect to expand our operations in the resale of third-party properties by expanding the franchise model. We also expect to explore credit as the inductor of the professionalization of the secondary market, thus enjoying the synergy between our operations in this market, as a distribution channel, and CrediPronto as a financing channel. We also expect to increase our operations in the secondary market through the information available in our database combined with actions to attract potential sellers among real estate launches buyers, given that the real estate launched can be potentially a future resale target. Our recent franchise openings in several Brazilian states demonstrate our strategy of expanding our business, including in the secondary market.
We believe our main competitive strengths are:
High capillarity, amplitude of sales force and diversification of products offered. We have a high capillarity structure composed by 17 own stores, more than 180 franchises and more than 13,300 associated brokers distributed in 26 Brazilian states and the Federal District, as well as our internet portal (www.lopes.com.br) that is visited by more than 15 million first-time visitors yearly.
We believe that in the Brazilian real estate market, the speed of brokerage in the moment of real estate launch is an important factor for the developer’s success, once it permits them to increase their financial margins and to raise resources for their operations. In that sense, due to the scale of our operations and large structure of real estate brokerage, we are able to perform brokerage of real estate launches in a short period of time, which represents an attractive factor for the developers.
The geographic range of our sales force and the integration of regional operations that we possess provide us a strategic position in the market, strengthening our leadership position and providing economies of scale. We believe that this integration is crucial for the results of the real estate brokerage we have been achieving, which is important to attract new deals with developers, buyers and sellers of real estate.
We also believe to possess one of the largest database of potential buyers in the State of São Paulo, whose, based on large media exposure, presence of several points of sale and strong demand, is constantly renovated, also providing to identify new brokerage opportunities and market tendencies. Lastly, we believe to offer a greater variety of real estate products to our buyers, if compared to the developer’s brokerage departments, once they usually restrict their offer to the products developed by them. Added to this is the use of data intelligence to provide various features in the online channel, such as the recommendation of similar properties, financing calculator, property price assessment tool, analysis of price behavior in the main neighborhoods, among others.
The fact that every real estate of our portfolio is available in our internet portal (www.lopes.com.br), regardless of the segment and the location they are registered, also provides the immediate contact between buyer and sales force, increasing the possibility of success and conclusion of the transactions.
One-stop-shop for real estate sales and financing. Through CrediPronto, our joint venture with Banco Itaú, we offer clients access to mortgage financing at our points of sale. The integration of sales and financing is an important innovation in the pre-owned properties and resale segment, representing an advantage for our buyers (and facilitating sales) in the 26 states and the Federal District where we operate.
We believe that the interaction between CrediPronto and our real estate sales network represents an important innovation in mortgage financing, particularly by shortening the period between application for financing and closing. Moreover, this joint venture positions us well in the growing market for mortgage financing for pre-owned properties and resale in Brazil, as potential buyers can obtain financing and purchase property in one place, under our one-stop-shop concept.
Potential for profitable growth while minimizing risk. We believe we can benefit from the continued growth and maturity of the Brazilian real estate market, including the expected expansion in the credit market as a percentage of GDP, without exposing ourselves to the risks inherent to real estate development activities because our business does not require significant infusion of capital and high cash generation capacity.
The mortgage financing in Brazil still accounts for a relatively low percentage of the country’s GDP: Only 8% in 2013, in fact a very small percentage if compared to other developed countries, such as the United Kingdom, in which the mortgage financing market is equivalent to 81% of its GDP, or even if compared to other emerging countries such as China, in which this percentage increases to 14% of its GDP. Therefore, there is a large room for mortgage financing growth in Brazil in the near future.
Highly qualified employees and sales team aligned with our goals. We believe that the knowledge and experience put at the service of our clientes by our employees and by the highly qualified sales team helps us anticipate and meet the specific needs of our potential customers in the different segments we serve. Accordingly, we operate in different segments – high and middle-income residential and commercial developments, lower-middle income residential developments, sales of inventories, resales, and online sales—which enables our sales teams to match potential buyers with specific units and thereby improve their individual and group performance.
Furthermore, our scale of operations allows us to continuously train our current and new professionals, and consequently enhances our ability to meet the continuously evolving needs of our markets. Our remuneration policy for certain professionals has a variable component, which is tied to their performance and is an important factor not only in retaining these professionals, but also in aligning their interests with ours and those of our shareholders and clients.
Significant capacity for innovation and business development. The expertise and knowledge we have acquired has allowed us to develop new segments and increase our presence in the segments in which we operated, primarily through innovation. In the lower-middle income developments segment, we created Habitcasa, which in only two years of operations became the second largest real estate brokerage company in São Paulo in terms of launched general sales value, according to EMBRAESP.
Distinguished tradition and experience in the sector. In the Brazilian real estate sector, the credibility of real estate development companies is a key factor to their success, since sales of most units are consummated before construction is completed. With more than 85 years of tradition and experience, we believe we enjoy great prestige and credibility in the real estate brokerage market. Our reputation is an important factor in attracting purchaser- and developer clients, as it helps facilitate real estate purchases and sales and attract qualified independent brokers to increase our extensive sales force.