Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa Real Estate Investor Magazine - August 2017 | Page 7

EDITORIAL VIEW
The Disruptive Impact of
Technology on Real Estate
T
echnology is impacting business in a
big way and the real estate market is no
exception. The digital transformation of
real estate is dynamic and moving at a rapid pace.
The advent of Uber, AirBnb and IBM Watson
is moving the business landscape away from
traditional operators. Investors, agents, brokers,
managers and property professionals who fail to
embrace technological change could face failure
and extinction if they don’t adapt.
Major transformation in real estate first started
with the arrival of multiple property listing
portals (such as Private Property and Property24
in South Africa and Zillow.com and Trulia.com in
the USA and Rightmove and Zoopla in the UK)
improving access to multiple property listings at a
click of button.
Many local portals are linked to services such
as lightstone.co.za to determine online property
appraisals and valuations. When Google maps
came along in 2005, the game changed once again.
Users are now offered a web mapping service with
satellite imagery, providing panoramic views of
street maps. It provided context to properties in
terms of location, imagery and opened easy access
to addresses on most properties on the planet
through zooming in on any property anywhere in
the world.
The emergence of video to display and market
properties also improved the imagery and
professionalism of the industry. The advent of
Social media to interact and source both buyers
and sellers of property has streamlined property
marketing significantly. Facebook, in particular,
has spread awareness of real estate and created
more loyalty to brands. The growth in use of
smartphone and tablets, in conjunction with app
technology, has aided all of these services making
them quickly accessible online.
The next big thing to arrive is Virtual Reality
(VR) with Matterport offering a 360-degree
view with unlimited access to view a property in
the palm of your hand. It is a totally immersive
experience, making you feel as if you are walking
through and interacting with the property. This
was closely followed by Augmented Reality (AR)
which can overlay a real worl d print, product or
object with your branding. This offers an excellent
opportunity to enhance your experience and brand
recognition in front of your computer.
What are the future tech developments that
will impact real estate? There is currently a big
pushback on escalating costs of ownership,
leasing and utilities. Landlords and investors are
finding that the search for good yield takes harder
work and more creativity. There is likely to be a
disintermediation in real estate in sourcing, listing
and marketing properties, which is currently
expensive, inefficient and unproductive.
Technology is already providing solutions
reducing the use of intermediaries by allowing
investing directly while removing the need for
the middleman or intermediary from transactions.
Just look at Propertyfox.co.za, attorneyrealtorhub.
co.za, houseme.co.za and homebid.co.za to name
few disruptors. At REIM we are introducing our ‘Re
Tech’ section as a regular feature to keep investors
up to date with all the latest trends in real estate.
Enjoy the read and successful investing
NEALE PETERSEN
FOUNDER & PUBLISHER
“We’re are taking a long-term bet that immersive, virtual and augmented reality will become part of people’s daily lives.”
MARC ZUCKERBERG
www.reimag.co.za
AUGUST 2017 SA Real Estate Investor
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