TECHNOLOGY
PropTech — drivers, trends and engagement Whether it’s by automating, personalising, or streamlining processes, technology can remove friction and workload from real estate professionals when it comes to keeping clients and customers informed and delivering a customer-centric experience. While the skills of the profession in building meaningful connections, market knowledge and problem-solving will remain critical, we look at how property technology (PropTech) is changing the rules of engagement.
Property owner analytics, building efficiency data, marketing and management — PropTech is used across the real estate spectrum. We’re starting to see a dynamic digital ecosystem begin to foster new and more efficient consumption models at all stages of the property cycle — from pre-sales, sales, financing, construction and settlement to management.
A digital gear change So, what’s driving the quick shift to digital technologies in the property sector? Accelerated by the pandemic, we’ve seen a shift in consumer expectations — and technology is bridging that gap across all industry segments. As Chris Simmons, Chief Executive Officer at Listing Logic, an automated digital advertising platform, observes, over the last 20 years the world has gone digital, adding that “the real estate market is now catching up on what has been a global shift”. “As the millennial generation comes through as the dominant purchaser of properties, these digital natives expect to find all information online and available when they want it,” Simmons adds. Early digital adopters such as financial services, health services, hospitality, food delivery, retail and travel have all experienced digital disruption. All you need to do is look at FinTechs (financial technology) such as Revolut, which have upended banking services so they are mobile, connected, and answer the needs of a digital-first customer base.
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The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand
Howard John, New Zealand sales manager at DIAKRIT — a leading provider of digital visualisation solutions — echoes this sentiment. When it comes to property marketing and transactions, he says it’s down to buyer and vendor expectations — a trend driven through innovations in other industries. “We have all come to expect information at our fingertips, at any time of day, wherever we are in the world. Major industry players like Uber, Netflix and Spotify have led this evolution and today a customer's experience isn't industry-specific. Rather, real estate is competing with the best experiences a buyer or vendor has received across any industry, and this is driven by digital technologies enabling a greater customer experience,” he says.
An opportunity for real estate excellence As innovations already seen in other industries continue to root in the real estate sector, we can expect to see PropTech further streamline operations and reduce cost, by enhancing transparency, boosting security, and automating repetitive processes. The early stages of this were the adoption of digital record keeping through customer relationship management systems (CRMs), which enable agencies to track properties and manage their customers, Simmons notes. Knight Hou, CEO and co-founder of property market data provider Relab, looks to the rapidly burgeoning areas of FinTech, and more recently,
