Five years ago, when we went to our first Rent exhibition in Paris, it was clear that those who were inside the stands were the techies and those who walked around were the traditional real estate agents curious to see what was happening in the real estate sector.
Today, five years later, the situation is quite different. There are real estate agents who have incorporated and associated with so many technologies that they can seem a startup. On the other hand, some techies have transformed their businesses with traditional real estate processes.
In the real estate transformation race, we can see, on the one hand, that traditional companies have turned towards innovation to reach a transformed customer with new needs. Still, on the other hand, technology companies have adapted their technologies to real estate market needs.
I think that today there is no longer a dividing line between the two trends, whoever talks about it will be wrong. At least in Spain, we use to position ourselves on one side or the other.
Examples? Hundreds:
- Inmotecnia, a technology event full of “traditional” real estate agents
- Innomads, “traditional” agents investing in techie proptech startups
- B2C platforms turning their business towards solutions to collaborate with professionals
- Ibuyers that integrate the real estate traditional part to attract clients who do not want fast operations
- Portals like Zillow, having an extense services catalogue for agents
- Agents who transform their portfolio showing all their products with virtual reality
- And believe me, I could continue with more examples!
At this point, we can say that the sector transformation is consolidating. Customers do not choose a techie or traditional product, but they choose a product that fits their needs. Therefore, companies change their processes depending on what their customers need.
Sheila Gracia
Service´s Director at the Real Estate Agents Association in Catalonia