Industry attributes
Other attributes
Real estate technology, also commonly referred to as property technology or proptech, is an industry that uses information technology in real estate market applications to help consumers buy, sell, and manage property.
Put simply, proptech is the use of technology to drive efficiencies in real estate, ultimately leading to improved asset returns, reduced friction, and greater transparency. Household names in the proptech industry include Zillow (NASDAQ: Z) (NASDAQ: ZG), a home sale listing site; Airbnb, a vacation rental listing site; and Opendoor, an iBuying platform.
Examples of real estate technology includes residential property listing sites, or iBuyer, such as Zillow, Redfin, and Opendoor, commercial property listing sites, and coworking companies such as Convene, Industrious and WeWork.
Real estate agent platforms such as Nestio, Agent Ace, Zip Reality, Fivestreet, and UpNest.
The short term rental, shared living and hospitality startups, such as Airbnb, VRBO, Selina, StarCity, Common, Ollie, and HubHaus, comprise another sector of the real estate technology industry.
Other examples of real estate technology include real estate portfolio management technologies, property management software, facility management platforms, virtual viewing and indoor mapping technology, building management technologies, property automation and IoT technologies, building efficiency technology, real estate data analytics companies like Reonomy, mortgage technology startups such as Better Mortgage, Lenda and Floify, automated valuation technologies, and property insurance technology companies.
Home service platforms, such as Thumbtack, Handy, and Clutter, are also considered a sector of the real estate technology industry.
In 2019, construction technology, including modular and prefabricated house production, became a major sector of the real estate technology industry. Off-site housing companies such as construction technology startup, Katerra, use a full-stack development approach to home design and manufacturing that reduces construction costs by increasing efficiencies. Construction management platforms such Aproplan, Clarizen, eSub, Viewpoint, and PlanGrid are also a sector of the real estate technology industry.
In 2017, global venture capital firms invested $12 billion dollars in the real estate property industry. In the United States and Europe, a number of venture capital firms, such as RET Ventures, Concrete, and Pi Labs focus on real estate technology investments.
