It is now. It is inevitable. And it is no different than what has happened in so many other sectors: technology transforms societies and people. Technology transforms everything. Also real estate. It is called Proptech, or what it is the same, the use of technologies to solve professionals’ and clients’ needs, improving real estate services by putting clients at the center of natural real estate processes.
The application of new technologies in the real estate sector started for some years now and, although initially, all was a little tingling of startups, the current volume of companies dedicated to PropTech, more than 400 only in Spain, gives us an idea of the dimension of business today. Just a couple of notes: in the last five years, more than 300 real estate technology companies have arisen, and this new industry in 2019 already generated more than 5,500 jobs in Spain.
At this point, no one doubts that we are already, indeed, facing an economic gem: 63% of investors in the real estate sector prioritize companies dedicated to Proptech.
Proptech is a clear symptom of the real estate transformation.
And all of this is happening, despite being real estate, a sector that is not very permeable and somewhat reluctant to change. Therefore, more and more professionals in the industry use technological services; this use has increased exponentially in recent years—portals, CRMs, social networks, valuation software, digital signatures, virtual tours, or renders.
Neither households nor how society interacts with them are similar to those of 30 years ago. Today, users and consumers are digital: in a natural way they use apps to find a new home, economic platforms for sharing like Airbnb, they manage their basic and leisure needs at home through devices like Google Home or Alexa (the famous Internet of Things!), they desire new domotic homes, they make payments and contracts online (what we call blockchain) and they explore alternative housing formulas, such as the coliving.
These new hyperconnected consumers value immediacy, speed, and efficiency above all. People are more used to live in Smart Buildings. In those buildings, the movements of people and their needs are measured with sensors, the air conditioning is automatic and autonomously adjusted, all of this, allows not only buildings to be more efficient, more environmentally friendly, and save costs, but so are the cities that have these buildings.
These cities (smart cities) are already reinventing their way of building and organizing territorially, through the mapping carried out by robots, drones, and traffic movement sensors, making them move towards more inclusive and sustainable models, and improving the population mobility.
And although on paper it seems that there is an abyss between past and present, it is not. Professionals should not feel threatened by technology; they must be able to embrace it to transform their businesses again, as they have always done.
Welcome to the future, real estate professional, because the future is already here. The future is you. Now.
Sheila Gracia
Service´s Director at the Real Estate Agents Association in Catalonia