Commercial property technology is transforming the way commercial real estate companies do business. Whether you help maintain a large industrial park or a single office building, proptech can make your job easier and illustrate opportunities you might otherwise have missed. This is exactly why the latest property tech insights for landlords can help you stay connected with your tenants.
Proptech is a broad term that encompasses the explosion of digital innovation in real estate over the past few years. This includes everything from smart home technology to software that helps property management companies better interact with office tenants, market their properties, and manage their buildings. Top real estate companies, as well as smaller commercial real estate investors, are using these innovations to be more efficient, be more competitive, and be able to attract and retain the best employees. Such advancements and products give property landlords the ability to manage their assets with more efficiency, flexibility, and — most importantly — ease.
Emerging Proptech Trends to Look Out For
The world of proptech is constantly changing, which is something we see happening across all niche areas of technology. According to Forbes magazine, “property technology in the real estate industry has grown by 1072% from 2015 to 2019,” a percentage which had continued to grow since last year saw the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some recent emerging trends to keep an eye on:
- Using IoT technology to better manage office buildings. Smart technology in office buildings can capture a lot of data about the maintenance and occupancy of buildings. This combined with IoT data gathered from systems such as thermostats and lighting fixtures can help building managers anticipate maintenance and repair issues and maintain a more welcoming environment for both tenants and visitors.
- Touchless services. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for touchless services like entry points, payment portals, and locks. Expect proptech companies to develop more and better products in this area over the next year.
- Increasingly efficient data analysis software. Gone are the days of managing properties “by the gut.” Today, property technology companies create software that will help managers and owners with property management research, as well as to help them analyze things like how rents compare to other, similar buildings; occupancy and vacancy rates over time; and ways to attract different market segments.
- Better security solutions. Technology companies are using artificial intelligence (AI) to not only hold off threats to buildings but also prevent such threats. One example of this is using facial recognition to authorize entry, instead of using codes or keys which can be lost or stolen.
- Software to help you better connect with your tenants. The recent pandemic has created a vacuum where there used to be communities of human interaction. Office buildings are no different. With many people working at home and others avoiding break rooms and water coolers, there is a void of information-sharing. New software products can help you as a landlord directly share information about building events and data, as well as foster a community where tenants can interact.
The Future of Real Estate Technology
Expect an increasing number of proptech products to come down the pipeline. The future of real estate technology in 2021 and beyond will see more and better ways for tenants and landlords to connect digitally, better remote access to property management tools and functions, as well as better ways to find and qualify attractive office tenants.
Some of the more exciting proptech trends include programs that streamline the property appraisal process by automatically compiling information from public records and recent comparable sales. In other tech news, real estate will make more use of virtual reality technology, potentially allowing prospective tenants to walk through a building without ever leaving their couch.
Other commercial real estate technology news includes capitalizing on the work-from-home dynamic. This will cause technology to reinvent office space as we know it: it will lead to space sharing and other creative uses of workspaces, rather than the traditional, one-company office. The best commercial real estate companies will be nimble enough to take advantage of the opportunities presented by such changes — which can be achieved through getting on board with growing technology trends.
Commercial Real Estate Technology Powers the Industry
The future of commercial real estate and proptech is entwined. Look for more and more products designed to improve the tenant experience, help landlords better manage their office buildings, and attract smarter and more qualified employees to their real estate properties. While the COVID-19 pandemic certainly created a need for products like touchless entry and virtual community software, these products will remain as modern building amenities — even after the pandemic era is behind us.
To learn more about the bright future of commercial real estate technology and how it can positively impact your business, schedule a demo of our comprehensive end-to-end operating system.
