2021 will be the beginning of a battle to win the favor of real estate professionals.

Why am I saying that? Multiple options will appear for professionals (some are already emerging, others are quietly brewing, and others are just on the horizon). These options will allow the sector professionals to be better and provide better services to the end customer, whether buyer, seller, tenant, or owner. But let’s not fool ourselves. Platforms bringing technology to real estate agents, such as Compass or Zillow in the USA, do it because they want to have a more significant part of the real estate cake, not just a small piece. In my opinion, this is something legitimate and almost mandatory in all companies in the world. Without growth, there is no future.

Of course, the important thing is that real estate agents have more powerful technological tools, and their private clients will enjoy better services, more efficient and digital. But behind these platforms is the legitimate need of a company to obtain profits. The more, the better.

If you are a proptech (or a fund), you can bill for your services, for the value you provide, but where is the big piece of the real estate cake is at the real estate transaction, and therefore, the large corporations (portals or groups), funds and entrepreneurs, will go for that!. The only way for a real estate portal to increase its turnover (much more) is to stop being a real estate window and become a brokerage business player.

The first “big real estate monster” to see this opportunity was the USA’s leader, Zillow, which is suddenly involved in thousands of sales and has increased its turnover exponentially. The competition is the funds that create technology platforms that help real estate agents deal with the buyer or seller. They need real estate professionals to be part of this chain.

Shortly we will see this trend in Spain. In the US, Compass is a great reference. Considering this scenario, I am sure 2021 will be an exciting year, full of innovations, models, change, and technology. And hopefully, we will find more satisfied professionals and final clients.

Gustavo Lopez

Operations Director at API Catalonia