According to the Proptech Map, compiled by API Catalonia real estate agents, 501 startups in Spain use technology to improve or reimagine services in the real estate sector.
This year the sector has grown by 8%. Two hundred seventy-eight people of these, more than 55%, work with real estate professionals. 58% of these offer solutions for products in the construction sector, 22% for agencies and the remaining 20% for real estate clients.
According to Anna Puigdevalle, CEO of the National Association of Real Estate Agents (ANAI), the Association of Real Estate Agents of Catalonia (AIC) and Treasurer of Fiabci Spain: “The growth of the real estate market can no longer be imagined without integration with Proptech. The real estate sector has diversified to include a range of technology and digital services to meet current demand requirements. However, this is not all. Suppose Proptech contributed a lot to these changes. In that case, new technologies and innovations like virtual and augmented reality, blockchain, big data, artificial intelligence, visualization and other technologies applicable to the real estate sector will also help move the sector forward.“
In recent years, “its evolution has progressed by leaps and bounds thanks to a combination of factors that have created a new space of opportunity,” notes Vicens Hernandez Rece, President of AIC and CEO of Tecnotramit, and co-author of Proptech Revolution, along with Anna Puigdevalle and Gustavo Lopez, Chief Operating Officer of AIC.
According to JLL, the number of startups operating in the real estate sector has grown from 2,000 to 8,000 in the world over the past ten years. It is due to the desire and need of companies to apply new technologies.
In the first six months of 2021, the sector registered more than $ 9.7 billion in funding, which was the most active half of the year since the start of keeping records. The market is showing signs of maturity as funding begins to flow to established players, and growing consolidation fuels the emergence of sector leaders.