From AI to VR, technology is changing the way that homes are being bought and sold
6 OCTOBER 2017
The days of walking into a high street letting agent, taking
hours to view a property, and searching a spreadsheet for a potential mortgage lender could be dwindling. The property sector is innovating and embracing new technology to improve its offering to customers.
From artificial intelligence (AI) to virtual reality, here are some of the ways that technology is shaking up the market.
Virtual viewings
Technology works best when it produces genuinely useful outcomes for companies and their customers.
“The right solutions are those that solve existing industry problems and issues,” says Jack Jenkins, the co-founder of student accommodation finder, University Cribs. “Adopting it might not make or break a business, but more property firms are developing digital strategies.”
Inaccurate or inadequate photos of properties has inspired some companies to use virtual reality (VR) to transform viewings.
Matterport, an immersive media technology company, has created a camera that automates the creation of digital 3D models and produces VR experiences, floorplans and ultra high definition photography.
It has changed the way in which properties are marketed, improving the speed and quality of the buying and selling process.
“Potential buyers can view properties in true-to-life definition through VR or online tours – virtually walking through 50 properties in the time that it would take to visit one," says co-founder, Matt Bell, who adds that it saves customers the time and money spent on travelling to unsuitable properties, while speeding up the viewing process and leading to quicker sales.
Forty/8, a specialist property company, is seeing the benefit of using VR to help potential buyers visualise finished apartments at a development in Manchester.
“On traditional opening weekends, we expect to sell about 7pc of apartments on show, but using the VR headsets has seen sales increase to 15pc,” says Richard Forman, head of sales. “VR headsets enable viewers to step inside the apartment and sense how it will look and feel. It gives them a better understanding of what's on offer.”
Speeding up sales
After recognising that mortgages can be slow, paper-based and prone to human error, Daniel Hegarty founded digital mortgage broker, Habito. It uses robo-advice to enable people to get a mortgage online at any time and from any device.
“Our technology scans the whole market for the best products for a customer’s specific needs, in half the time of a normal broker,”
claims Mr Hegarty. “Done right, AI, machine learning and algorithms can [aid] consumers at a fraction of the traditional cost.”
In a similar vein, the actual process of buying property has had something of a technological facelift, with software company, Properr, creating TrackMyMove, which enables estate agents, conveyancers and home buyers
to track the progress of a property’s purchase in one place.
According to Properr’s chief executive, Owen Derbyshire, it speeds up the time required to complete a sale, reduces fall-through rates
and improves communication between parties.
Despite these benefits, it has been tough to convince people to start using it. “Our main challenge revolves around educating people working in the sector, and promoting the benefits,” says Mr Derbyshire. “It’s natural for incumbents to be risk-averse and sceptical of change, but this as an opportunity, not a threat.”
Lasers over papers
Property technology (or “proptech”) has even come as far as to use
sci-fi style lasers to the industry's advantage. GeoSLAM Ltd takes the paper and hassle out of managing floorplans and spatial data collection with its handheld 3D laser scanning device.
With it, users can quickly and accurately scan a room or building to create plans. “It uses invisible laser light to collect up to 43,000 points of data per second while walking through a space,” explains vice president of product management, Mark Reid.
“This data can then be used to create 2D floorplans, net area calculations, volume calculations and 3D models, and enables estate agents, surveyors and building managers to accurately and easily obtain up-to-date spatial data of their properties at [any time].”
Being faster than traditional methods and less obtrusive to carry out,
it has made previously difficult jobs easier, such as surveying occupied care homes, where the risk and disturbance to residents must be minimal.
Telegraph Connect latest
Putting pioneering tech start-ups on the map
23 Oct 2018, 08:00am
‘We do a lot of business through WhatsApp’
22 Oct 2018, 10:00am
Drop the jargon to convince clients that you mean business
22 Oct 2018, 09:30am
Punctuality is important for a professional image – here’s how to maintain it
22 Oct 2018, 09:00am
'I wanted to set up a company to help people like me'
15 Oct 2018, 10:20am
Why a business for all seasons is not the only path to success
15 Oct 2018, 09:30am
Nip a night-owl culture in the bud by being the first to go home
15 Oct 2018, 09:00am
The stress and loneliness of being a small business owner