As the real estate industry continues to embrace digital transformation, proptech innovations are playing a crucial role in helping property owners maximise profits and control expenses.
From advanced data analytics to smart building technologies, these innovations offer powerful tools for enhancing operational efficiency and driving revenue growth.
We asked industry experts to share their insights on how proptech is enabling property owners to push revenues up while bringing expenses down, offering a glimpse into the future of real estate management.
Dynamic pricing and integrated systems
Proptech innovations are giving property owners powerful tools to optimise both revenue and efficiency, says Ruth Whitehead, COO of eviivo, a property management software provider supporting over 27,000 hospitality businesses across Europe and North America.
“Proptech innovations like dynamic pricing are crucial for property owners in increasing revenue through targeted promotions,” she explains.
“The ability to automate rate adjustments based on inventory, special events, and seasons makes setting competitive pricing effortless. These advanced tools also allow property owners to roll out exclusive offers and discount codes, encouraging direct bookings and reducing commission fees from online travel agencies.”
But it’s not just about pricing. Whitehead also highlights the significance of having a unified property management system that integrates core services.
“Having essential functions – such as property management, booking channel management, website management and payment management, plus the customers’ ability to choose core add-ons: guest communications, performance tracking, promotions, and owner management — in one streamlined system eliminates integration hassles, and reduces costs in software purchases and staff training,” she notes. “While deep and open API integrations ensure seamless connections to peripheral services such as accounting, marketing, and electronic point of sale.”
Efficiency and new revenue streams
Efficiency gains are a key benefit of proptech, but there’s also potential for new revenue streams. Clare Harman Clark, senior counsel in the real estate group at law firm Taylor Wessing, sees this as a crucial area where proptech is making a difference.
“Proptech is revolutionising building infrastructure and potential,” she observes, noting that technologies enabling effective maintenance scheduling and energy use tracking are particularly valuable.
“By harnessing proptech products, owners and investors already well versed in bricks and mortar are able to drive serious efficiencies, perhaps by scheduling maintenance effectively or by tracking operational energy use. In many cases, it is easy to see how investment in these areas is appealing to tenants looking to commit to well run space.”
Moreover, Harman Clark highlights how proptech can open up new income opportunities. “Proptech can also even generate data sources on estate use that offer new diversified income streams for owners,” she says, indicating that owners can leverage data to maximise the use of their property and appeal to tenants.
Data-driven renovation decisions
Data-driven decision-making is another powerful advantage of proptech, particularly when it comes to property renovations.
Kevin Greene, a real estate technology executive with CoreLogic, a company specialising in financial, property and consumer information analytics, explains how automated valuation models (AVMs) are changing the game.
“AVMs, powered by image analytics and market data, can maximise ROI for the homeowners by helping to optimise and prioritise renovations and investments.
“Depth of data, combined with image analytics advancements and best-in-class AVMs, provides the homeowner the knowledge they need to make the right decisions.”
Automation and risk mitigation
Automation in property management is helping to cut costs and enhance efficiency, but it’s also playing a vital role in risk mitigation.
James McCormick, CEO of Cloudastructure, a proptech company specialising in AI surveillance and remote guarding, discusses how these technologies are transforming the industry.
“Automation of tasks such as rental collection, maintenance requests, lease management, and communication with residents leads to time and cost savings,” McCormick explains.
He also points out that risk mitigation tools are turning traditional cost centres into revenue opportunities by preventing issues like legal disputes and property damage.
“Tools that assess and mitigate risks… can transform historical cost centres into revenue streams,” McCormick adds.
Automating residential property management
Adding to the conversation on automation, Marcus Rader, co-founder and CEO of Hostaway, a proptech property management software for the global short-term rental market, touches on how automation is transforming residential property management.
“Much of real estate costs on the residential side are managing payments, tenants and general property management. There is fantastic technology that automates large parts of this – from collecting rent to automating work orders and even communicating and reporting to owners.
“Dynamic pricing ensures that revenue is optimised whilst automating manual processes and keeping costs down.”