Real Estate Tech Startups: The Next Big Thing

Real estate has been slow to adopt the technology boom that has gripped the startup industry! Despite the slow evolution, the real estate industry is catching on with the rest of the world and a revolution is coming. Plenty of brokerages are trying to tap into the startup rage in India, changing the face of real estate with their more customer centric approaches, catering to every small problem.

Real Estate technology involves software, applications and tools that integrate brokers, lenders, investors, property owners, property managers, buyers, sellers and mortgage lenders. Satellite imaging is one of the most prominent areas emerging in the sector which allows companies to digitally map areas for excavation and assert whether there are rocks below the surface. Drone sensor data and aerial images are being used to improve mining and site planning to reduce time wastage and make quicker decisions. Technology is also being used to capture data, store and analyze various parameters and predict the quality of construction, the manpower required and other dimensions.

Apart from construction, companies have also turned towards technology to reach out to consumers and enhance operational efficiencies. Many processes in real estate have already begun automation that leverage the power of big data to formulate accurate property appraisals faster than ever. Gone are the days when a property fair was the typical marketing process. All forms of brick, mortar and paper transactions are being replaced with 3 dimensional upgrades and virtual reality.

Breaking an entire industry down to smaller bits, a revolution in the real estate industry is waiting to happen. The boom in the startup culture can promote the technically backward industry to become the fastest developing sector in India. Marketing, pricing, customer relations, property views and visualization along with satellite imaging is just the tip of the ice berg. Marketplaces like Magicbricks, 99acres, Housing and CommonFloor, among others, have already tapped into this lucrative booming industry. After an increase in co working spaces and property rentals, some of the large upcoming sectors in the industry include platforms for networking and networking collaboration among brokers, listing and marketplaces for service apartments, P2P (peer to peer) rental listings and marketplaces and virtual reality based visualization platforms.

While 2014 was the breakout year for real estate tech startups in India, 2016 was the year of consolidation. The real estate market in India is expected to touch $ 180 billion in revenue and investments by 2020. According to a report by CBInsights, the real estate sector saw over $ 2.6 billion in investment around the world and 2017 could very well reach another consecutive funding high. The Indian government’s Smart Cities Initiative and the recently launched contest is also part of the lure for real estate companies to jump on the tech bandwagon.