Up until relatively recently, digital transformation struggled to penetrate the real estate sector in any meaningful way.
PropTech is acronym formed from "property" and "technology". While the PropTech market is still in its infancy, it is full of opportunities for startups to bring innovation.
PropTech Market
Here’s what the landscape it fits into looks like today according to a PropTech company Immobilier2.0:
Trends that drive PropTech startups
Real estate is seen as very conservative and struggling to keep up with technology and rapidly changing consumer behaviour. However, as more companies embrace digital transformation some PropTech trends are starting to emerge:
On-Demand Economy
On-demand companies in the real estate sector are sprouting up all over. It helped to create some of the largest unicorns of the century (e.g Uber, Airbnb, and WeWork).
Internet of Things (IoT)
Smart, wireless sensors are radically changing the smart building industry. Affordable, low-maintenance PropTech means real estate companies can benefitf of the Internet of Things in areas like:
- Building maintenance - avoid unplanned and costly repairs and optimize cleaning service
- Energy management - adjust lighting and temperatures to decrease building operation costs
- Space utilization - Configure layout based on occupancy and footpath sensing and book meeting rooms with touch on mobile phone
Big Data
Collecting and analysing big data is enabling real estate comapnies to make more informed and data-driven decisions. Advantages of Big Data in real estate:
- Risks reduction - predictive analytics can analyze the total condition of the building, its age, all reconstructions that were made and predict future costs.
- Precise appraisals - with dedicated analytical models, real estate agents are able to perform accurate appraisal and set a real value for the indicated building
- Data-driven insurance - insurance companies know in advance what insurance type people need in their region
Streamlined property management
There are many tedious aspects of managing a property along with tenants. However, property management software streamlines the process by facilitating instant communication between landlords, tenants, agents, and contractors.
Especially mobile technology is making property management easier for both the landlord and tenant. This trend will likely soar leading to creation of many new mobile-based PropTech applications.
Why Python is the best technology for PropTech startup?
Python is great for writing APIs and web systems efficently. Two major Python back-end development tools are Django and Flask.
Internet of Things (IoT)Python is a go-to language for IoT. With Python and Raspberry PI you can built IoT solutions and products like robots, home automation, smart agriculture and more.
Data analysisPython has very powerful libraries for data analysis (Pandas, NumPy) and visualization (Seaborn, Matplotlib).
Big dataPython provides large number of libraries to work on Big Data, like PyDoop, PySpark, and SciKit-Learn.
PropTech Startups using Python
Zillow is leading real estate marketplace that allows searching millions of for-sale and rental listings, compare home values and connect with local professionals.
Tech stack: Python, Flask, Java, Spring, AWS, RabbitMQ.
Opendoor is the new way to sell your home. Skip the hassle of listing, showings and months of stress, and close on your own timeline.
Tech stack: Python, Flask, SqlAlchemy, Postgres, scikit-learn, Pandas, Dask, Docker, Kubernetes, BigQuery, and front-end React, React Native.
Orbital Witness is a PropTech-meets-LegalTech startup profiling legal risk in property transaction.
Python is used to address data-centric challenges such as OCR, NLP, data engineering, machine learning. Tech stack: Python, Databricks, Jupyter notebooks, and Postgres / PostGIS.
Insurami is a tech-first insurance platform redesigning protection for landlords.
Tech stack: Python, Go Lang, PostgreSQL, Celery, Serverless (Zappa), Docker on AWS, and React on front-end.
Remarkably is a portfolio performance platform for multifamily real estate innovators. Remarkably was built for owners and operators focused on improving leasing, cash flow and asset value.
Tech stack: Python, Postgres, Redis, GraphQL, and React.
Reonomy leverages big data, partnerships and machine learning to connect the fragmented, disparate world of commercial real estate. By creating a single source of truth, Reonomy products empower individuals, teams and companies to share information, unlock insights and discover new opportunities.
Tech stack: Python, Flask, PostgreSQL, Docker, Spark, ElasticSearch, and React, React Hooks, and REST APIs.