Idealista, the biggest success story of a Spanish initiative in the digital world, lives its biggest crisis in 20 years. The National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) has opened an investigation into seven companies that includes the portal founded by the Encinar brothers . The file focuses on pricing and the use of software and algorithms for direct and indirect pricing. Idealista defends that everything is a brutal misunderstanding, that they are not an intermediation company and that they will work closely with the CNMC, which, for its part, focuses for the first time on the technological tools its pursuit of practices against the proper functioning of the markets.
Are you surprised by the investigation opened by the CNMC? Yes. We learned the detail by the statement that was sent to the media and in which no clues are given of what they are looking for. Today we still don't know what they want to investigate in Idealista, we don't know what they impute to us. But there has already been a deep concern in public opinion, a huge impact on the reputation of the company and a brutal misunderstanding about idealist. Of course we will work closely with the CNMC throughout the process of instructing the file and its final resolution. We are the first interested in clarifying with total transparency and clarity the licit use of the services that idealist facilitates to its clients. But we did not expect the impact or dissemination that has had in the media or the manipulation of information that has occurred as a result of the note. Many information has been published as definitive that does not appear in the statement and that are uncertain, such as which idealist is being investigated for inflating rental prices, when the concept of inflating or the word rental is not even included in the CMNC statement. How Idealista works Idealista is a meeting point for those who want to sell, rent or buy a home. The advertisers directly publish the information of their properties and we demand that they guarantee both the truthfulness and the legality of the information, but we never alter, modify, manipulate the data and much less the price . Advertisers are at all times responsible for each and every one of the data. We strongly deny any participation in the investigated practices and of course it is impossible for an idealist to manipulate or modify the price of the ads. Only the advertiser is authorized.On the other hand, idealista does not charge any commission to its advertisers or its users. We are not a real estate brokerage company nor have we been in our 20 years of history. It is completely false that idealist charges commissions to certain customers in exchange for changing the price of their ads or for any other service. Idealist does not charge commissions, period. Our income never comes from the closing of operations nor do we take part in them. We do not negotiate with any advertiser any commission linked to the closure. For the individual, advertising in the idealist is free the first two ads and from the third you already have to pay to use our services. We offer different types of collaboration to real estate professionals and depending on the services we offer and hire, we have rates that are transparent and are never linked to operation closures. What is the role of technology? Idealista is a technology service provider We are A purely technological ecosystem. We are not an agency, nor a real estate broker. We are a portal, the fifth most consulted real estate portal worldwide and recognized for its technological developments in order to offer the best experience in the search for real estate information. How have the digital platforms changed the real estate market? The real estate sector like any other has been deeply transformed by internet and new technologies. 20 years ago, when an idealist was born, there were four million users who connected with basic modems. The houses were sold or rented with small classified of about 10 words. No photos, no maps, no filters, no customization, no possibility to save a search and receive notifications , among other things. With an enormous opacity in terms of prices and market data. Undoubtedly idealistic has been a company that has helped and taught millions of Spaniards to look for a home and has provided a database that offers transparency that was unthinkable two decades ago. Today any user knows, for example, at what price the houses are sold.According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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