Disruptive innovations are grand, industry-shaking ideas that force traditional companies to rethink their entire business model. Whether through emerging technologies or bold new ideas (and often, a combination of both), these innovations deliver unexpected value to consumers – solving old problems and making once-laborious processes more convenient.
Commonly cited examples of disruptive companies include Netflix (which revolutionized media consumption), Uber (which upturned the taxi industry) and Apple’s iPhone (which ushered in the modern era of handheld internet devices). But what about the real estate industry? What disruptive innovations are currently revolutionizing how we buy, sell, manage and develop properties?
Let’s take a closer look at a few bold ideas reshaping real estate.
Big Data in Property Development
Big data refers to stores of data too large and complex to be managed by regular software. In the past, real estate developers had no way of accessing or analyzing these vast data sets. However, as Keyrenter Hampton Roads explains, thanks to machine learning software and other modern tools, developers can now leverage big data to make better decisions.
According to McKinsey, developers are using massive sets of non-traditional data to help paint them a clear picture of where to develop properties. Big data pulls together granular, hyper-local pieces of data (the turnover rate of coffee shops in the area, the tone of online reviews of local businesses, etc.) to pinpoint up-and-coming areas with startling accuracy.
A Digital Marketplace that Foregrounds Consumers
Digital marketplaces aren’t new, but until recently, no one thought to apply the concept to real estate. Then Nobul came along: a real estate digital marketplace that places power and access in the hands of consumers.
Nobul vets and selects real estate agents using a proprietary AI-powered algorithm, matching consumers to their perfect representatives. Agents can then compete for a consumer’s business by offering lower commission rates and more attractive terms. The marketplace also offers resources and information to empower consumers in their real estate journey.
CEO Regan McGee understands his company’s disruptive potential. “Nobul introduces transparency, accountability and simplicity at a crucial time,” says the real estate maverick, adding that now is “the perfect time to disrupt the status quo.”
IoT Rewriting the World of Property Management
The Internet of Things (IoT) is essentially a network of physical devices that communicate with one another. Recently, cutting-edge CRE property management companies have leveraged IoT to streamline their processes.
IoT allows you to create smart homes that monitor the health and usage of building amenities in real-time. These devices can tell you how often people ride the elevator, the state of a building’s HVAC systems, and much more. These insights facilitate what’s known as “predictive maintenance,” diagnosing building-related issues before they happen. IoT can also allow property managers to make remote adjustments to temperature, lights, etc., to optimize energy use. The technology – and its forward-thinking adherents – are currently disrupting the multi-billion-dollar CRE management industry.
These disruptive innovations are revolutionizing the way people think about real estate – from buying homes to managing skyscrapers. Who knows what exciting ideas lie on the horizon for the real estate industry?