You’ve probably heard of FinTech, MedTech and HealthTech, but there’s a new addition to the Tech family that we should all be talking about: PropTech. The term has been coined to describe the intersection of property and technology, and today, we’re looking at how PropTech innovations are driving the future of real estate.
The Shift to Fully Digital
Industries that haven’t fully adopted digital are few and far between. While there’s still a place (just about) for traditional brick-and-mortar stores and supermarkets, the majority of industries have moved online. The real estate industry however is one example of an industry that still operates with a physical presence. Viewings, inspections and contract exchanges are often carried out face-to-face, but even this might be changing in the near future.
Digital tools exist for just about everything these days, so it would be no surprise to see the real estate market operate without physical interactions in future. Take a valuation, for example. In many cases, a property valuation is still carried out by a chartered surveyor who visits a property in person. However, we’re slowly seeing a move towards a hybrid approach with companies like Validate offering RICS desktop valuations.
Blockchain For Frictionless Transactions
Blockchain technology is getting a lot of attention right now, and slowly, the tech is making its way from the crypto sector to more mainstream industries. Transactions in the property sector are notoriously slow due to the number of legal hurdles that they have to go through.
If you’re unfamiliar with blockchain technology, the main objective is to remove the middlemen that exist between the party sending the transaction and the party receiving the transaction. When a piece of real estate is purchased and ownership is exchanged, intermediaries like conveyancers, banks and mortgage brokers sit between the two parties. But with blockchain, we have the potential to simplify the procedure and connect buyers and sellers via smart contracts rather than people.
It’s hoped that blockchain will not only simplify and speed up the process of buying or selling a property, but will also ensure more money goes to the actual owner/seller rather than the intermediary who is simply facilitating the deal.
Artificial Intelligence For Smarter Decisions
If people are talking about blockchain, then they are absolutely screaming and shouting about artificial intelligence, or AI as it’s commonly abbreviated to. It appears that AI is disrupting just about every industry, and real estate is no different. In fact, we’ve already seen examples of AI being used in the property sector.
Firstly, AI is being used to reduce risk in real estate. That includes risks associated with the structural makeup of a property, but also any legal risks that come with buying a certain property.
We’re also seeing property platforms become more personalised with AI. Through machine learning, recommendations are becoming more and more accurate, taking into account users’ previous behaviour and preferences.
Virtual Reality Is Redefining Property Viewings
Finally, there’s the topic of virtual reality (VR). We’ve seen VR headsets become more and more adopted in recent years, and you can expect to see this make its way into real estate. Property viewings have long been a key part of purchasing a house, but virtual viewings could soon be replacing traditional viewings.
With the technology advancing at such an alarming rate, the gap between virtual and physical is closing, making the industry increasingly remote.