Asia Tech Outlook

Pandemic Propels Proptech

By Yardi Blog Staff on Feb 16, 2021 in Global, Technology

Real estate companies in Asia have ramped up investment in technology in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, finds a recent survey of major real estate firms by independent news source Mingtiandi. The research, which was conducted in collaboration with global real estate technology provider Yardi®, finds 70 percent of real estate companies are scaling up investment in property technology (proptech).

The results of the survey, Tech Adoption in Asian Real Estate, builds on a similar report from Mingtiandi in 2017.

“Our latest survey results unearth a major shift towards proptech adoption in our region,” says Bernie Devine, regional director of APAC sales for Yardi. “Change was underway well before 2020, but COVID-19 has heightened the urgency and amplified the risks of inaction.”

Proptech, innovative technology that improves core processes and business models, is turning real estate on its head. Metaprop, one of the world’s largest early-stage proptech venture capital firms, predicts that proptech innovation will deliver $205 billion of new value to the global real estate industry over the next five years.

“Real estate leaders are rolling out technology to support more frequent and accurate reporting, deeper data analysis, and technology that underpins safety and efficiency,” explains Devine.

A total of 180 real estate specialists – more than a third with assets valued at over US$1 billion – took part in the survey in August 2020. Thirty-nine percent of respondents were from Hong Kong, 26 percent from Singapore and 12 percent from China. Among the key findings, 35 percent of companies said Asia was still trailing the West in terms of tech adoption, down from 56 percent in 2017. Thirty percent said the region was leading the way – up from 12 percent three years ago.

“There’s a growing perception that Asia is closing the gap with the West. Location shapes perceptions more than any other factor, with just six percent of respondents in mainland China believing that Asia lagged the world’s leaders,” says Devine. Respondents named big data analytics (55%), artificial intelligence (42%), business process automation (32%) and the Internet of Things (32%) as the top technology plays for Asia’s property industry over the next five years.

The region’s real estate companies are also slow to adopt new tools. In the era of big data, 56 percent are still reliant on Excel spreadsheets to optimize work processes.

“But as we start to achieve far superior levels of efficiency and insight from more sophisticated software, digital will dominate. We expect the property companies that seize the lead now will establish an unassailable position in the market in the years ahead,” states Devine.

Download the takeaways from Tech Adoption in Asian Real Estate.

About Mingtiandi

Mingtiandi is the independent source for Asia real estate intelligence, helping more than 100,000 unique visitors per month make informed decisions and gain an edge over the competition. Since beginning daily distribution in 2012, Mingtiandi’s list of newsletter subscribers has grown to more than 10,000 decision makers from companies including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and more.

About Yardi

Yardi® develops and supports industry-leading investment and property management software for all types and sizes of real estate companies. Established in 1984, Yardi is based in Santa Barbara, Calif., and serves clients worldwide from offices in Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. For more information, visit yardi.asia