Technology has long penetrated into all spheres of people's lives. Digitalization is actively moving through the economy, transforming even the most cumbersome and immobile industries. This digitalization has already reached the real estate sector.
People no longer even need to leave home to perform thousands and thousands of operations for hours and even minutes. A task that could have taken several days before. The same applies to the state: the population census, registration of payments and payment of duties — everything has already gone online.
Nevertheless, the physical world is still around us and it is unlikely that the "metaverse" will be able to negate its role. The real estate market also requires a lot of direct participation, although in some countries of the world this participation is becoming more and more optional.
Technologies specializing in this sector have allowed the traditional business to evolve and take another step forward. Companies such as Future Marketing Insights claim that the Protech sector (the industry of technologies used in construction and real estate management), by 2035 will be worth more than $86.5 billion. And this is despite the decline in the sector in 2022, which is indicated by Venture Capital Journal.
The Spanish consulting company Syntonize, specializing in digital development and implementation of PropTech solutions, is one of those who actively promotes new solutions among the management companies in Spain. They are aimed at improving the transparency of activities, accounting, speeding up the exchange and analysis of data, standardizing the use of technological tools and much more.
The activities of companies like Syntonize and Future Marketing Insights are important today as one of the main means of popularizing technologies in the real estate market, traditionally famous for its resistance to new trends. The Pro Tech industry still has a long way to go in gaining popularity and creating attractive investment offers.
So far, according to the European Real Estate Association, up to 45% of real estate professionals are not going to use new technologies, because they should first see the degree of their investment payback. Virtual reality technologies and analytical tools for decision-making are particularly difficult. Despite the seeming hype in the field of VR technologies and neural networks, they are very reluctantly accepted by the sector, despite all the obvious advantages.
Nevertheless, in some countries the situation with the technological real estate market is better than in others. One of the leading markets is the USA, where the real estate sector labor market has grown by 50% due to professionals who are engaged in doing business, both directly and indirectly related to PropTech.
Along with technologies, new practices in the market are also developing. For example, coliving, flexible office space, conversion of commercial premises into residential and vice versa, pop-ups are becoming very popular. Due to neural networks and improved data analysis capabilities, it is possible to accelerate the design of facilities, organize work processes, renovate and reconstruct real estate, repurpose premises with the greatest efficiency, etc.
Technologies are also used in improving the environmental friendliness /energy efficiency of real estate. "Green real estate" has gained particular popularity in the last couple of years among both national demand and international buyers. New technologies of lighting, air conditioning, home automation, transformation and reuse of building materials. All these are the building blocks in creating a truly environmentally friendly real estate market.