PropTech Brings Traditional Real Estate into the Digital Age

By Aftab Taylor, Chief Information Officer, EMEA, JLL

Aftab Taylor, Chief Information Officer, EMEA, JLL

Over the past decade, technology platforms have transformed all aspects of our life from careers, health and finance to leisure and social networking. In comparison to the financial sector’s booming fintech market, the real estate industry is just at the start of its digital transformation.

The needs of real estate clients are rapidly evolving with an increasing demand for enhanced digital experiences and instant access to information and services. The widespread adoption of proptech will continue to accelerate as the investor and property owner’s appetite to experience and benefit from new technology products increases. At JLL, we are powering real estate innovation by challenging traditional ways of working and creating exciting new data-driven digital solutions for our clients.

Digitally revolutionising how occupiers find new office space

JLL is transforming the way clients manage their location strategies with a data-driven digital journey utilising cutting-edge technology in a state-of-the-art studio. Together with providing clients with a guided virtual tour of selected properties, the innovative and immersive experience enables occupiers to share information, facilitate the selection and accelerate the strategic decision making involved in finding new office accommodation.

Simplifying and securing real estate appraisals with blockchain

Traditionally, appraisals supplied by valuation advisors to banks for mortgage applications are signed and validated in the mail. Today, banking clients are managing a growing number of appraisals and need to instantly verify reports. Using a blockchain solution, JLL has shortened the validation process, while also improving security and transparency for all parties involved in the sale. The bank, buyer, seller or interested party logs on to a secure JLL site to review and confirm information. Once validated, the blockchain protects the report preventing the manipulation of any content.

Enhancing decision making with machine learning and big data

Big data is reshaping our business model. This dynamic method of digitally collecting and analysing data using mathematical algorithms has enhanced the volume, speed and accuracy of client insight. Demographic and socio-economic data, amongst others, are combined with property prices to predict trends and future behaviours using artificial intelligence and machine learning. Over three million value estimations have already been calculated using JLL’s machine learning platform across Italy, Portugal and Spain.

Sophisticated data science identifies high street retail hotspots

JLL is using data gathered from numerous data points to monitor changes in how people interact with their surroundings. Retail investor clients can access location data, and economic and social profiles to analyse how people’s movements influence their financial transactions on the high street.

Optimising occupier space and benefiting from IoT

JLL was the first real estate consultant to launch a strategic venture fund, JLL Spark. Run by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Mihir Shah and Yishai Lerner, JLL Spark has made numerous investments to date, including Hubble, a flexible office space platform and VergeSense, a sensor-as-a-service IoT capability that measures space utilisation.

The journey to transform age-old, paper-based processes by digitising workflows across services at JLL and other companies is well underway. The proptech era, as it gains in momentum will continue to uncover new and novel ways to reinvent and digitalise real estate’s value chain and services. The sector and demand are huge with technology capable of transcending boundaries providing limitless opportunities to power decisions with data and bring efficiencies to the market.