The rich technological future of real estate

Could you have imagined 10-15 years ago that you would be buying or selling real estate through the Internet? Today, thanks to the technology, real estate has even made property brokers and agents obsolete. Real Estate is one space where innovation and technology continues to evolve and change the lives of many. Keeping the customer at the heart of every innovation, technology in Real Estate has made life of a seller or buyer much more convenient in addition to giving them a variety of choices.

There has been a tremendous growth of the IT in the real estate market. There is an increasing demand for smart technological solutions in the sector to cater to varied preferences of the customers. Asset & property management solutions, enterprise applications to manage projects, etc. are gaining popularity. There is a growing need to manage data and these are the prime factors that will contribute towards making IT in Real Estate Market worth 8.91 Billion USD by the year 2021. While in the times to come, a lot more will change, the property - tech space has tremendous opportunities for growth and transformation. Here are a few we are already witnessing: 

Augmented Realty- While this summer the Pokémon Go craze was packing parks, cafes and bars, generally causing a frenzy in the U.S. and around the world. From a real estate perspective, what’s happening with Pokémon Go is a reflection of a larger shift that’s taking place in the industry. A shift fueled by technology that’s long overdue. Real Estate researchers have projected Augmented Reality as one of the most important emerging trends in 2017. It has been stated that, “Many observers anticipate that AR will meld the “clicks” experience with the “bricks” of the stores themselves.”

Virtual Reality – It is emerging as the new house-viewing medium and the latest technique being used for the marketing of the properties. Today, investors not only from different parts of the country, but even NRIs are keen on investing in India. Showing a property is impossible when your buyer is like thousands of miles away from the property they want to view. At such a time, VR is your key tool! To bring this trend to the local context, a lot of property developers are already experimenting with virtual tours of homes. They are encouraging home renters and buyers to experience the living space in a more ‘real’ way, without actually having to be at the property physically.

Smart contracts, are they the next big thing? The upcoming trend in  the real estate space is of carrying out property transactions over the internet. How stress free will be if buying/selling real estate becomes similar to buying other things online. Real Estate comes with adjectives’ like data integrity and fraud. People are afraid of sharing their financial and personal over the Internet. Technology is helping real estate transactions to become safer, reliable, efficient, faster, and cheaper. Software applications are being developed which enable the use of smart contracts for transactions. Globally, many property platforms are all set to  experiment with this technology. We are very sure that this will bring a revolution in this sector.

A sharing economy: Today, a real estate purchase is made by people in the age group of 30-45 years. This generation of buyers doesn’t believe in the traditional concept of completely ‘owning’ the property. With holiday homes gaining popularity, it is so much easier to share our homes. With the platforms like Airbnb flourishing globally for sharing/exchanging holiday homes, and the portals like eBay for the reselling of unused/unwanted belongings, it is clear that the fundamental of owning ‘new things’ is not as popular before. The figures support the trend, especially when it comes to things with high value.

Virtual and Sharing Workspaces: We are in an era where work-spaces have become virtual. A lot of companies have pointed out that the concept of a ‘fixed office space’ is changing dramatically. Many thanks to the growing technology, the increasing inter-connectivity, mobility, and work flexibility are having an impact not only on the property prices, but also in the ways investors are looking at these properties.

Nanotechnology- When it comes to building better and more durable houses, nanotechnology is already offering far smarter solutions to our home needs. The technology is now giving rise to various applications such as building materials with insulating properties to protect from weather variations, durable concrete that doesn’t crack easily, windows that hold the heat in better, and paint that is mould-free and does not harbor bacterial growth.

Automation: It is making maintenance cheaper and more efficient. IoT is taking over our buildings and homes. From taking care of our routine maintenance tasks to complex tasks like detecting malfunctions, even before it becomes an inconvenience to the users; gadgets are taking control our homes. They make adjustments to our surroundings just the way we like them!

Sustainable and eco-friendly - All real estate developments are becoming sustainable in one way or the other. Sustainability is moving beyond the designing and construction of houses to managing the day to day operations. More use of solar energy and use of recycled materials are some of the most common ways in making are homes eco-friendly. Waste processing, harvesting of rainwater are some sustainability measures being taken by the government in more concrete ways.

Innovation is always embraced by the real estate market and due to the substantial improvement in experience quality, technology in Real Estate will be doing wonders. We can already see investors, developers and potential buyers doing virtual walk-through of an office, retail, hospitality or commercial space even before it exists in the real world!