Why PropTech Will Be the Next Big Thing in Asia

Technology is transforming every part of our lives and also the business of real estate as we know it. The first proptech wave came in 2007 when start-ups presented us with first online listings for residential property. Then we saw the second wave coming in 2013 with start-ups beginning to work with new technology such as drones, virtual reality and blockchain, that is, a cryptographically safe and secure ledger that stored records of all transactions made in a system across different computers.

Today, instead of sending property managers out to buildings, inspecting them manually and recording their findings, we have smart robots which can carry such task with speed and precision. All this is good for real estate businesses as it enables property managers to focus on higher-order tasks, including analysing the data, thus pre-empting any maintenance requirements, planning ahead and cutting on cost for their organisations. Needless to say, proptech is where the future of real estate lies.

We are already witnessing a noticeable rise in investment on research and development of proptech in India as well as the rest of Asia. The flow of investments is not showing any sign of slowing down even as demand for property continues to grow in the region. And looking at the big emerging markets, India tops the list in the number of proptech start-ups that have received funding. As many of Asia’s major economies rely on real estate for up to 20 percent of their GDP, it is safe to say that the continent is going to be the hub of the next wave of real estate-focused technology.

This hardly comes as a surprise, given the fact that Asia has a huge real estate market with a growing number of potential consumers in its burgeoning middle class population. According to some estimates, Asia’s middle class accounted for 46 percent of the global middle class and over US$10 trillion of consumption. What’s more, is that this region is also highly tech-savvy. Asia also has almost half of the world’s Internet users.

Proptech, especially real estate ERP, is expected to change the picture of real estate business in a number of ways including the following:

First, it will revolutionise the way we approach real estate planning by making it easier to monitor large portfolios in real time.

Second, the impact of technology would make the marketplace more transparent which was, until now, characterised by asymmetric passage of information.

Thirdly, with the help of big data, property watchers and investors will be able to get accurate predictions of real estate trends and market movements.

Lastly, buyers would be able to scan properties with the help of virtual reality even before stepping through the door.

Indeed, proptech is going to be a key driver in the physical transformation of cities and set the foundations for a new era in real estate in Asia.