Swipe right for Real Estate?
The century so far has been a series of online disruptions. First, the music in- dustry (remember lesharing?), then telecoms, travel, taxis… the list goes on. e new normal involves doing everything from grocery shopping to nding a life partner with an app. But the property industry has been late to the internet innovation party. Say prop- erty investment, and what springs to mind is sealing deals at MIPIM, not swiping right. at’s all about to change, as the Proptech revolution gathers pace.
With the industry having bene ted from the e – ciency gains of the internet in general – email, mobile messaging, cloud computing – there’s a debate about which innovations actually count. “ ere needs to be a better de nition of what Proptech is,” said Nicky Wightman, director of Savills Worldwide Occupier Services and founder of Savills Tech Cities pro- gramme. “A lot of companies are solving problems and creating solutions without knowing it, and with- out thinking of themselves as part of this sector.”
These solutions cover everything from building sensors to apps for millennials to nd housemates. ey cover funding, designing, building, selling and letting real estate. Put together, they are changing the game.
Proptech is about harnessing the myriad of start- ups and new technologies cropping up in response to ine ciencies and outdated processes in the real estate industry,” said omas Herr, EMEA head of digital innovation at CBRE – a new position created to re- ect the growing importance of digital tools in the sector. He’s interested in Smart technology with a commercially sensible implementation, things like reality capturing, predictive analytics, data abstrac- tion – new technologies that bring extra value with the right use case.
Long before a building is funded or constructed, the amount of data available about the space on earth is exploding. Reality capturing has two aspects, and in- volves using drones and connected cars to map exter- nal spaces, along with navigation aids for inside buildings. “One of the big new things is the great indoors,” said Herr. Reality capturing can be used for maintenance, orientation, sales: “All sorts of use cases.”