How Much Does it Cost to Build a Real Estate App Like Wasalt?

Real estate has been a rising source of income and wealth since the dawn of time. However, the piece of land is shrinking, thanks to the onset of real estate platforms like Wasalt. Connecting buyers and sellers through an AI-powered mechanism is shaping the DNA of real estate.

What the platform has really struck a chord with is getting insights into daily rentals, upcoming and ongoing projects, and building a connection between buyers and sellers.

But as the demand for the piece of land in Arabia is rising, it is worth questioning, “What is the cost to build a Real Estate App Like Wasalt”?

Also Read: What Is Vision 2030 in Saudi Arabia and how is it driving innovation in real estate mobile apps 

Wasalt App: An AI-Powered Real Estate Platform

A recent AI marvel, Wasalt is a PropTech company that helps the various levers of real estate. If you are looking for a property to buy, sell, or rent, you can take the help of Wasalt to search such listings in Saudi Arabia. In combination with intelligent tech-verified properties across commercial and residential properties. Within the platform, you can access real-time insights, advanced search tools, and use interactive maps. In the end, you can say that the platform is a one-stop solution for property and land.

But what is the incentive to develop such a platform?

The Rise of PropTech: Real Estate Market Insights

Projections regarding the Real Estate Applications sector were at $6.24 Billion in 2024 and are expected to grow to $14.15 Billion by 2035. This shows an estimated CAGR of 7.7% from the period 2024 – 2035. (Source: Market Research Future)

Understanding the recent statistics, the adoption of AI has been a major factor in such a revolutionary change. The report also suggests that capabilities like decision-making for customers and agents are enhanced.

Why Partner with a Real Estate App Development Company?

There is no reason to know the cost to develop a real estate app in the Middle East, unless some benefit is attached. These can be attached to the amount of wealth one generates, to find the best properties, or anything else. Hence, if you are looking for the best mobile development company or want to establish yourself, going through the points below will help you understand better.

Rapid Expansion in the Middle East

In the recent past, the development of mega projects, especially in the Middle East region, has drawn eyes from around the world. Projects in the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia are seeing major traction, which is now becoming the norm and not the exception. Due to the rise in population, government support in residential projects is boosting supply and thus helping demand. Furthermore, commercial space is getting boosted as Arabia is becoming a major technological hub in terms of data centres.

Government-Led Digital Transforms

If you hold a piece of property in the Middle East region, the government is pushing the narrative of digital land registries. Now, transactions will happen at a faster pace than usual, and most of the transactions can be tracked easily. So, if your proptech solutions improve transparency, compliance, or efficiency, it is in alignment with national strategies for digital payment.

Smart Phone & Internet Penetration

Today, users are in a better position to track any of their favourite properties location-wise. This is well regarded with the adoption of technology, especially AI, which delivers user insights. Furthermore, the adoption of chatbots, virtual tours, and remote identity verification has made it easier for businesses to cut overhead costs. Besides, the results will be targeted, that is for sure.

Also Read: Why Riyadh & Jeddah are Emerging as Hubs for Real Estate Mobile Apps 

Demand For Transparency & Authenticity

Earlier, it was found that duplicate listings, limited data access, and offline negotiations were a huge burden. Hence, it gave rise to inefficiencies in the system. Thus, with the help of PropTech platforms, you can go through verified listings, AI-based price benchmarking, and automated rental collection and reminders for better functioning. This creates trust in the system, which is driven by technology, especially real estate apps.

Strong Foreign Investment

As real estate is the talk of the town, investment in short-term and long-term timeframes is an opportunity. This also drives the demand for housing needs as governments across the Middle East region are welcoming domestic and foreign investments. Under this, the best mobile app development company focuses on simplifying the legal, payment, and onboarding processes, which are the key but hidden levers.

Smart Cities & Mega Projects

Projects like NEOM and Lusail City are some of the smart cities developed for the future, now. Built on digital infrastructure with the help of IoT-connected buildings, predictive maintenance systems, real-time energy monitoring, and data-driven urban planning. Therefore, as a real estate software business, you can build or take help to build tenant experience applications, ESG reporting tools, and build analytics and a dashboard.

Key Factors Influencing Real Estate App Development Costs

The cost of developing a real estate application like Wasalt requires you to factor in various aspects. Some of them are explained in extensive detail:

Complexity of Features

Your app’s look and feel are influenced by all of the features you choose, which results in additional development, design and testing time plus maintenance down the road. While the basic features usually have a low cost due to their simplicity (such as property listings, basic search filters and others), more complex or advanced features will require much more time and effort to develop because they may require a lot of custom backend programming, unique API’s, or even specific framework tools to create.

Choice of Platform

Typically, the costs associated with developing an application natively on iOS or Android will be less costly than developing on both. However, if you want to build the application on both platforms, there is typically an additional round of development cycles to account for. Cross-platform development frameworks, such as React Native or Flutter, significantly reduce the amount of time and money needed for iOS and Android apps by allowing developers to build using one codebase across both platforms instead of developing separately for each platform.

UX/UI Design Quality

A user will only use a platform when it offers value and is good enough to hold them for longer periods of time. It means that the platform must be interactive, which is the outcome of quality UX/UI design. However, it can cost a lot of money. The cost of premium custom designs and interactive dashboards can cost your pocket. But a premium quality design will improve user retention, engagement, and increase the chances of conversion rates.

Backend Infrastructure

Elaborate Data Models (Databases to manage, property listings, user profiles, chats, and bidding histories) must also have a very strong database design to operate. In addition, real-time features such as Live Auctions or Messaging will require more servers to provide this service, which will also increase development costs as you will be developing multiple platforms, i.e., an app will need to be designed and built to support a global user base. Therefore, it requires a cloud infrastructure with load balancing, caching, and will incur additional costs for these features, supporting the above-mentioned features/characteristics.

Legal & Compliance Requirement

Generally, real estate software applications must integrate elements that educate users about the rules and regulations under which it operates. If the application you are trying to build enables payment, then it has to comply with anti-fraud elements. In some cases, by law, documents regarding property transactions require verification of documents and agent licensing.

Real Estate App Development Cost Breakdown

If you are looking for professional help for creating a real estate application or PropTech software, then you have to incur a range of costs. But the cost to develop such an application widely depends on the features you opt for. Therefore, a detailed insight looks like this:

Also Read: How to Develop a Real Estate App Like Dubai Rest: Features & Costs? 

Cost By Development Stage

Design

Core Development

Get a FREE Cost Breakdown of Your Project! See how much your real estate app will cost. Get in touch with us today.

9 Invaluable Real Estate Apps In The Middle East You Can’t Deny

Moving towards digitisation, the real estate market in the Middle East is witnessing the rise of PropTech businesses. These mobile applications range from investment to buying, selling, and renting. Here are some of the alternatives to Wasalt you can use:

Property Finder

The regional proptech leader Property Finder operates throughout the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, and Bahrain. It provides a comprehensive set of search capabilities that allow users to locate new or existing commercial or residential properties either for sale or rent based on multiple criteria, including price range, area, type of property, and amenities. In addition to providing verified listings, detailed information about each property and accurate pictures, this platform offers valuable market data on trends.

Bayut

Bayut is one of the leading property portals in the UAE and an important competitor within the overall region’s PropTech industry. Owned by the company Dubizzle Group, Bayut is focused on ensuring its customers have access to accurate information and provides transparency, verified listings and an excellent user experience. Features of Bayut’s website include a searchable property database, neighbourhood guides, price comparison capabilities, interactive maps and much more. Some examples of Bayut’s unique functions include 360° videos and AI -based property assistance (BayutGPT).

Stake

Stake is a growing platform providing fractional ownership of real estate through digital app technology in Dubai. Users can invest in income-producing property with only a small investment. The app allows for easy access to investment opportunities, including listing potential investments, expected annual rental income, and how much of that income will be distributed to investors digitally through the app and/or SMS messages.

SmartCrowd

Potential investors can participate in a pooled fund, along with other investors, for premium real estate ownership. Each investor receives an amount of rental income based on their percentage of ownership and can see their investment’s value on a user-friendly dashboard that is completely transparent. SmartCrowd manages sourcing, due diligence, and property management for investors, making investing in real estate as easy as possible for investors.

Huspy

Huspy is a technology company in the proptech and mortgage financing space focused on streamlining the home-buying and mortgage financing process. Rather than being just a listing site, Huspy connects homebuyers to the best financing options available by using digital comparison tools and pre-approval systems. The platform offers streamlining of the documentation, approval and lender communication processes associated with applying for, and receiving, mortgage financing. Further, Huspy leverages AI-powered tools to guide the buyer with their financing-related decisions.

Keyper

Keyper is a proptech company out of Dubai that provides payment and property management solutions in the rental market. Keyper’s flagship product is the Rent Now Pay Monthly program, which allows tenants to make monthly rental payments while the landlord receives the full rental amount up front. This model solves a significant issue in markets like the UAE, where tenants typically make their rental payment using multiple large post-dated checks. Landlords can track their property payments, property contracts and property performance via Keyper’s digital dashboards.

DXB Interact

DXB Interact is a real estate analysis tool that allows anyone with a stake in Dubai’s Real Estate Market access to multiple transactions, sales and price trends. Investors, agents and analysts can use this platform to see how properties are performing at any given time, as well as to determine what types of properties will be resold and therefore what has the greatest potential for a return on investment.

PRYPCO

The focus of this platform is to provide fractional (or shared) ownership of real estate as well as help individuals obtain mortgages to invest in these properties. PRYPCO strives to create an easy-to-understand solution to the legal and financial aspects of investing in real estate; therefore, they offer both an easy digital sign-up process and an easy way to see how much a property costs to purchase and how an investment may be made.

FazWaz

FazWaz is a global property marketplace that has recently launched in the Middle Eastern and UAE markets. Founded in Southeast Asia, FazWaz delivers property listings with accurate data and an easy-to-use search experience. FazWaz also has unique pricing data, multilingual support and extensive detail about each project. Through this, you will better understand the question, “How to develop a real estate app”?

The Final Word

Building a real estate application that involves features such as buying, selling, renting, and even concepts like REITs can be a challenging, lonely, and expensive affair. And when it comes to a successful application like Wasalt, the challenges you might face do get exponentially bigger. With rising demand, especially with projects like NEOM and Lusail City,  deep internet penetration, and many other factors, the Real Estate Application industry will be the eventual beneficiary. Therefore, choosing a partner that helps you build the best platform, delivering insights, and having experience in the said space is what Techugo seems to offer.

Techugo – Best Mobile App Developer in Saudi Arabia

Techugo is a professional development firm that specialises in creating custom mobile apps and web solutions for the Saudi Arabian real estate market, including property search and listing applications, agent dashboards, and potential buyers’ applications. We offer extensive support to businesses by digitising property information and enabling automated processes, resulting in a robust mobile presence that allows for the ability to connect with potential purchasers and agents from cities throughout Saudi Arabia.

End-to-End Real Estate Solutions

What makes Techugo unique is its complete service offering, which includes:

– Assessing user needs through requirement documentation and strategic planning.

– Creating visually appealing user interfaces and ensuring ease-of-use.

– Building Android, iOS, and web-based applications.

– Creating reliable back-end infrastructure designed for scalability, performance, and security.

– Providing post-launch technical assistance and maintenance to allow for long-term continued use of the solutions provided.

Latest Technologies & Advanced Features

Techugo employs cutting-edge technologies and real estate-specific tools to create innovative digital products that offer:

– Interactive maps supported by geolocation and filtering by property.

– Integration with customer relationship management (CRM) applications and secure payment processing.

– Virtual tours (augmented and virtual reality) of properties and artificial intelligence-based second opinions on them.

10+ Years of Experience

Developing mobile applications for healthcare, entertainment, E-learning, fintech, e-commerce, and more industries with businesses located in the USA, Canada, India, UAE, & Saudi Arabia, gives us a complete understanding of domestic as well as international needs. Getting to know the demand and supply mismatch in the Arabic region, our services and applications have been supporting our clients for 10+ years.

All of these reasons do make Techugo one of the best mobile app developers in Saudi Arabia. So, why wait, connect with us now!

FAQs

Q. How much does it cost to build a real estate app in Saudi Arabia like Wasalt?

Building a real estate app like Wasalt typically costs between $20,000 for a basic application and up to $120,000+ for an advanced platform featuring AR tours, AI property recommendations, and custom CRM integrations.

Q. How long does it take to develop a real estate mobile app in Saudi Arabia?

Depending on the complexity, a basic real estate app can take 4 to 8 weeks to develop, while a fully-featured, cross-platform app like Wasalt may take 12 to 16 weeks from discovery to launch.

Q. What are the must-have features in a real estate application?

Essential features include interactive map integration (Google/Apple Maps), advanced search and filter options, high-resolution property galleries, push notifications, user profiles, and secure messaging between buyers and agents.

Q. Which development approach is more cost-effective: native or cross-platform real estate apps?

Cross-platform development (using frameworks like Flutter or React Native) is generally more cost-effective because it allows developers to write a single codebase that works on both iOS and Android, reducing overall development time and costs.

Q. Why is UX/UI design critical for a real estate app?

Real estate apps rely heavily on visual appeal and ease of navigation. A premium UX/UI design ensures users can effortlessly browse high-quality images, read complex property data, and interact with maps, directly increasing user retention and conversion rates.

Q. How does a real estate app work behind the scenes?

A robust real estate app requires a scalable cloud infrastructure (like AWS or Google Cloud) to handle massive databases of property listings, high-resolution media storage, real-time messaging, and secure load balancing.

Q. How can AI be integrated into a real estate app in Saudi Arabia?

AI can enhance real estate apps by powering smart chatbots for 24/7 customer support, providing predictive price benchmarking, and analyzing user behavior to recommend properties that match their exact preferences.

Q. What legal compliances are needed for property apps in Saudi Arabia?

Real estate apps must comply with local and international data protection laws (like GDPR or CCPA) to protect user data, alongside regional real estate advertising regulations and secure payment gateway compliances (PCI-DSS).

Q. Do I need an admin panel for my real estate app?

Yes, a comprehensive web-based admin panel is required to manage property listings, verify agent credentials, monitor user activity, handle dispute resolutions, and track the overall financial performance of the platform.