Jonny Britton, Co-Founder & CEO, LandInsight
The best tools are the ones that solve real problems by empowering their users. In this new wave of PropTech, companies are often doing this by bringing together vast amounts of information that can help property professionals make better decisions and presenting it in a simple, actionable format resulting in productivity gains.
The planning system is at the heart of the property industry and widely known for being antiquated and clunky to navigate. 2019 will be the year where it is unravelled by technology so it’s easy to work with. Quicker-low cost planning assessments will unlock huge opportunities for the development industry, councils and communities. Keep an eye out for LandEnhance.
Innovation All Around - Bots are Finally Taking Off!
Chatbots have become sophisticated. It’s interesting because the hype died down a few years ago but the development and funding didn’t stop and now they are quite powerful with serious applications at every stage of the real estate ecosystem.
The planning system is at the heart of the property industry and widely known for being antiquated and clunky to navigate
AskPorter for example is doing great stuff with property management with their digital assistant solution. Hubble has just raised a Series A funding round which suggests they’ve overcome many of the scaling challenges that held them back. They’ve built an impressive platform and if it can cover the whole market it is much needed and will add huge value. Finally, it seems like we have been talking about AI forever as a thing of the future, but the products I’ve mentioned use it in some way – it’s happening now. Another good example is, PerchPeek who are using AI to match renters with homes and are seeing better results than traditional renting platforms. That’s quite impressive!
The Big Data Players have Ventured into PropTech
Big data companies across the board (Facebook, Amazon, Google, Airbnb) are moving into PropTech in a massive way. You’ve got the likes of Google building a city in Toronto from the internet up. Amazon investing in a prefab company with an intention to build Alexa enabled homes.
They are looking at how they can capitalise on the consumer demands of people inside their homes. This is particularly significant because they have the resources to stimulate the whole property ecosystem (not just PropTech) which will encourage investment and innovation all around.
Commercial real estate companies in particular are gathering and analysing data about how people are dwelling in their buildings. This data is informing, design, strategy and ultimately investment decisions. It will be interesting to see how such data is collected and used in the residential market.
PropTech Company Data is Now Easy to Access
Much more real time data about the market has become available and the investment sector is getting more organised with the likes of Unissu gathering momentum which enables investors to make better choices about who to invest in, or use for themselves.
See Also:
Read Also
How the Real Estate Industry Differs from Others When it comes to Technology
Four Curious Ways International Real Estate Differs from North America
What is Proptech? Could it be the Industry's Savior?
