PropTech and Post-Covid Recovery
What is Post-Covid Recovery and is this the new normal? In the face of a changed world and the challenges presented by a pandemic, how has the PropTech market responded? Is necessity the mother of adoption? And what does the future hold? In the first of a series of events held by PropTech Association of Australia and sponsored by Stone & Chalk, Kylie Davis is joined by an expert panel to address the big questions.
Taking a three-fold approach, panelists provided insights and future predictions across economics, real estate and technology in the property market. Eliza Owen heads up Australian Research at CoreLogic, Dan Evans of Macquarie is Head of Property Services and Chris Rolls, founder and Managing Director of PieLab is an entrepreneur, investor and adventurer.
No one anticipated Covid-19, lockdown, and the unprecedented adoption of virtual tours, video negotiation, digital marketing platforms and online auctions. PropTech solutions have been rapidly built and embraced. And while there’s been a mild fall in home sales, listing volumes and rental markets, it’s not as severe as we thought, reports Eliza. The interesting area is around consumer confidence and how that directly relates to the virus curve. While there’s been a trough, data shows that things are stabilising. As restrictions and closures ease, confidence is slowly returning.
Dan Evans confirms similar trends in the Macquarie Pulse Check Report, which has been benchmarking the real estate industry since 2007. While previous themes of revenue stream impacts, business confidence, and consolidation and scale remain the same — it’s no surprise that there’s increased amplification and volatility in these areas.
Findings also show a broad trend of less commission on fewer sales. The need to service more clients, remain profitable and have a better holistic understanding of business has intensified. Interestingly, high performing businesses aren’t necessarily implementing new technology, but using what they have in adaptive, consistent and efficient ways in a commitment to continuous improvement and change.
From a PropTech perspective, Chris Rolls is seeing cost-cutting occur as growth stagnates for businesses. While remote inspection and online tools have seen an uplift, the question remains whether adoption and success of these will continue in a post-covid environment. For innovation in PropTech to be successful, Chris says, growth and capital is the challenge. While the economy is hurting, it’s likely there will be less investors playing in the PropTech space.
That’s why it’s important for the big property players to look towards outside-in innovation.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom. While our panelists agree there’s still some headwinds to battle, future predictions are optimistic. Recovery will take shape — and that shape just may be less labour-intensive, operational and expensive if we take our lessons from Covid-19 forward.
You can watch the full discussion on our YouTube channel here.
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