Home Property Australia AI to take the lead as the most impactful technology in the property sector

AI to take the lead as the most impactful technology in the property sector

  • March 29, 2023
  • by Property Australia

The Yardi/Property Council of Australia PropTech Survey, conducted in November 2022, took place amidst significant technological advancements.

The report found 35 per cent of the over 260 respondents think AI is the biggest impact technology ahead – up from 19 per cent in just one year.

In recent years, the PropTech ecosystem in Australia has experienced significant growth, with over 600 active businesses, as noted by the Proptech Association of Australia.

Worldwide, JLL has estimated that there are nearly 8,000 companies providing technology-based solutions for the built environment, which is a more than 300 per cent increase over the past decade.

Property Council Chief Executive Mike Zorbas said we now have three years of data that tracks a collective shift in mindset from the peak of the pandemic in 2020 to energy and economic challenges of 2022.

“We are seeing a sizeable proportion of the industry embracing advanced technologies – like artificial intelligence and business process automation – because these technologies can help them to meet net zero and other sustainability goals at speed,” Mr Zobas said.

Yardi Asia Pacific Senior Regional Director Bernie Devine said the rapid development and deployment of sophisticated AI solutions is forcing many companies to reconsider their technology strategies to make data aggregation easier.

“A sizeable proportion of Australia’s real estate industry is still operating from spreadsheets. You can’t make sense of big data without first sorting out the small data,” he said.

The survey shows that companies have three clear priorities for information management in 2023: streamlining business processes, improving timeliness and accuracy of data and increasing revenue and rationalising sales process.

However, behaviour is the biggest obstacle to technology transformation, according to respondents, followed by costs and customisation resources being required.

According to the survey, technology will be the secret to a sustainable future, with 71 per cent of respondents believing technology will have either a major or significant impact on meeting sustainability objectives.

Despite the importance of technology, 43 per cent of respondents believe Australia is trailing the rest of the world in adoption and acceleration of PropTech. Just under 30 per cent said it is about the same while 29 per cent said we are leading.

When it comes to the adoption and acceleration of PropTech in real estate, half of respondents feel we are trailing the rest of the world, while 35 per cent believe we are leading, with the 15 per cent feeling it is about the same.

According to the survey, there is a swift transition towards cloud computing currently taking place.

Cloud computing is agile, elastic, and scalable, and it continues to facilitate growth, particularly during uncertain times. Gartner has predicted that investment in public cloud services will increase by 20.7 per cent in 2023, which is higher than the projected 18.8 per cent growth in 2022.

Almost three quarters, 73 per cent, of PropTech investors expect to see more mergers and acquisitions over the next year, and 71 per cent of start-up founders believe that it will be harder to raise capital in 2023, according to Metaprop’s 2022 Global Proptech Confidence Index.