By Kathy Salter
The new generation of technology heading our way has the potential to turn the real estate industry on its head, empowering the disempowered and transforming the way we work, according to Kylie Davis, President of Proptech Association Australia.
“The advances in technology in our sector are making life easier for property managers and sales agents, helping them to save time and money, improving efficiency and productivity, and reducing the steps needed to complete tasks,” Kylie Davis, President of Proptech Association Australia, said.
“The advances in technology in our sector are making life easier for property managers and sales agents, helping them to save time and money, improving efficiency and productivity, and reducing the steps needed to complete tasks.”
“The new generation of technology is turning old concepts of how we work on their heads, empowering the disempowered – especially buyers and renters – and putting more balance into the property equation. It’s time that technology delivers on its promise to make life better and reduce stress.
“When looking at investing in technology, my advice to business owners is to look at what kind of experience you want to offer and be clear on what great customer experience looks like. Then look at why you’re struggling to deliver that experience at the moment? Once you know this, you can look for tools that will help you achieve what you want to do, rather than starting with the technology and then asking yourself if you have a need for it.
“Some of the solutions aren’t perfect yet, but they’re pushing the envelope and making us more curious and engaged with what could be possible.”
Here are Kylie’s predictions for the top 5 proptech trends to keep an eye on throughout the rest of this year.
1. Agencies deepen their understanding of data and AI
“One of the biggest trends I can see emerging across real estate is a much deeper understanding of data,” Ms Davis said. “Agencies are maturing in their view of data, what it is and its value, with better data being used and analysed in the cloud to help us make decisions and run our businesses.
“We’ll continue to understand more about how that data helps us with automation and AI to remove some of the more repetitive ‘hamster wheel’ tasks from every day. The algorithms of AI are not magic pixies; they can only ever be as good as the data they use. The more we understand data and AI, the more useful it will become to us.”
2. The sector gets real about cybersecurity
After the data breaches that made headlines in 2022, the real estate industry has hit a reality check during the first three months of this year.
“The sector really needs to get serious about cybersecurity,” Ms Davis said. “What I see now is that agents are aware of the importance of cybersecurity, but this isn’t always reflected in their processes. They are still effectively leaving the front door open, with practices such as sending information about transactions worth millions of dollars via email and text all too common.
“Today, you can buy pizza more securely than you can buy a house. We need secure communications platforms, multi-factor authentication and everyone in an office having their own licenses to software, along with an understanding that it’s not a question of if we get hacked, but when we get hacked.”
“At the moment, our industry can look a bit like a bad AFL match, where everyone is dropping passes and bumping into each other. We need to work harder to be more secure.”
3. Tech brings sales and property management closer together
Real estate agencies have evolved with sales and property management teams working in silos, each with their own goals.
“We are now working together more, with better communication and a sharing of leads,” Ms Davis said. “Property management is at the heart of any good real estate practice today and, for rental property owners, property managers can be like fairies that make all the problems go away when anything needs to be fixed or upgraded.
“But, when I need a repair done on the home that I live in that is worth so much more than my rental property, I have all the hassle of getting quotes, talking to the trades and waiting at home for them to turn up. As a homeowner, what if there was a platform that I could subscribe to where property managers handle all the problems that arise with the home? Of course, I’d subscribe. And then, when I come to sell my property, who do you think is going to sell it for me? Someone who has helped me for the last 10 years or someone new?
“As technology enables property managers to get better at managing their rental portfolios, maybe they can manage other portfolios as well, which could include people who have bought a property through you as an agency.”
4. Fewer agencies but more vibrant real estate cultures
Research has shown us that there have been high levels of burnout in the real estate industry since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic – and now, with the recent downturn, there’s a significant number of small agency principals looking to shut up shop and sell off their rent rolls.
Ms Davis believes we’ll soon see a trend towards fewer, larger agencies run by people who are passionate about managing agencies, rather than selling principals trying to run a team while looking after their own sales.
“Technology is what will make this possible, making it easier to run a bigger company with multiple offices or one central office with larger teams covering a larger area,” she explained. “A greater focus on technology, as well as efficiency and process, will lead to stronger businesses with stronger cultures. In turn, these businesses will have the resources and infrastructure to adopt new technology and further evolve their businesses and the sector.”
5. Working from home makes life easier for property managers
Technology continues to allow more people to work remotely, as new tools change the centralised command and control structures that have been the norm in real estate until now.
“Technology is allowing the work we do to be more transparent, more visible and more mobile,” Kylie said. “Property managers don’t have to be tied to a desk in an office for eight hours a day. Now, it’s possible to work from home, maintain more balance and work the same number of hours at a time that suits family needs, with less stress.
“It makes the sector more attractive to the workforce and makes them less prone to burnout as well.”