The unwavering influence of proptech on the real estate sector has never been so profound as it is now. While we know that the ongoing pandemic has melted down industries globally, on the flip side, it has given rise to a wave of innovations on a scale never seen before.
If you have closely followed the aftermath of the pandemic, you will notice that businesses have made a speedy transition to digital, adopting new technologies and tools, almost within a fortnight, to communicate, live and enable business continuity; the real estate sector is a glaring example of this.
Effect of the pandemic on proptech
While it is true that proptech has revolutionized the property sector globally, the sudden eruption of the pandemic had arrested the exponential changes that happened during the past couple of years; namely, coworking, co-living, and rental accommodations. Many investors and start-up leaders that had earlier backed these new-fangled ideas, had to exercise caution towards these portfolios and new deals.
Proptech induced businesses fell in one swoop with the invasion of the pandemic as companies adopted remote working measures and shared living options became redundant for the time being. Startup leaders rue the fact that a decade of efforts in building up a flourishing business went up in smoke in just a couple of months.
However, as the economy unlocked in a gradual fashion, proptech rebounded as consumers increasingly gravitated towards innovative technologies to signal the need for safety amidst this global crisis.
One thing is sure that businesses that have simplified and transformed their business workflows by reducing physical interactions and infusing layers of the digital framework will have the upper hand in riding out of this crisis and will be agile winners at the end. While we still haven’t perfected the definition of normalcy, one thing is sure that businesses will have to resort to innovative uses of technology and devise new ideas to get back to previous revenue levels and think of long-term goals.
Promising proptech technologies to usher post Covid
We have mentioned before that the pandemic has ushered the growth of game-changing proptech technologies that have been dormant for the time being. These technologies have accommodated according to the shift in market demand and evolving expectations of consumers.
Smart space planners
With the pandemic still making new inroads across cities, the need for physical distancing in working spaces will prevail. The emergence of smart space solutions that can map the topography of working space interiors and provide insights on how to make the workplace safe and engaging at the same time will gain prominence in the future.
With the aid of sensors that come with machine learning algorithms, office managers can get exclusive reports on space usage and employee density which can help prevent employee crowding. These tools will lead to better utilization of office space so that no space gets wasted while maintaining social distancing.
Touchless asset management
The fear of contraction has uprooted the previous normal of physical touch. We have become phobic to coming in contact with public physical surfaces including elevator switches, escalator railings, door handles, and so on; that have become infection vectors.
Touchless asset & access control systems are the new tech in proptech that will transform building functionality and make assets safer to use access and control. With access verification modules and contactless integration with various asset services, asset control tech will simplify building navigation. Also, with gesture control and voice recognition systems, employees and tenants can use respective spaces without the fear of contamination.
Smart real estate value assessment software
Arriving at the correct real estate valuation figure of a property is riddled with hassles including in-person thorough checks by brokers and manual data entry of each and every aspect of the property. This painstaking and inefficient procedure has become all the more irrelevant in the wake of the pandemic where real estate agents have gone remote.
This beckons the need for real estate appraisal software that calculates the valuation of a property in minutes with the help of some specific data, resulting in faster processing of property sales.
With the help of AI that analyses various databases, the real estate appraisal software that used cloud-based technology, helps homeowners perform the appraisal of the property themselves without the need of any brokers or appraiser. This will be the future tech for hassle-free selling of property.
Smarter and more effective platform for brokers and agents
In such strained times, keeping the real estate business alive and kicking requires the emergence of innovative real estate platforms that simplify the art of real estate business, bring brokers together and help them earn good brokerage money.
Digital real estate platforms that help brokers get fresh leads from listings, conducting meetings with homebuyers through video interactive mediums, taking them on property tours through VR tech, and at the same time streamline workflows of brokers, have become the new normal for property brokers and agents to conduct business.
The pandemic has opened the doors to a neo-digital era for real estate businesses. Emerging proptech technologies and digital tools will accelerate the adoption of tech in the property sector and usher accurate information flow between buyers and sellers. Analog business workflows will be history; the rise in sophisticated digital platforms that leverage cloud storage, AI, Machine Learning, and other hi-tech software to influence property transactions and aid in efficient property space management, will grab a sizeable chunk of real estate of the future. All in all, proptech’s future will be brighter than we can imagine.
Also read : Proptech Pioneers- Tanuj Shori featured in key report
