PropTech is short for “property technology,” and during the last decade, this buzz term has been taking over the real estate industry. According to the research company CREtech: “Investment in real estate tech companies globally hit $14 billion in the first half of 2019. That’s more than during all of 2017, which saw a record $12.7 billion in PropTech investment.”
These days, the influence of PropTech has reached virtually every area of the real estate industry, including the multifamily space – and in many ways, PropTech is changing the multifamily industry for the better. In this article, we’ll explore the impact of PropTech on multifamily real estate, but first, let’s take a moment to provide a clearer definition of what PropTech is exactly.
What Is PropTech?
According to PropTech thought leader James Dearsly, we can define the term PropTech like this:
“PropTech is one small part of the wider digital transformation of the property industry. It describes a movement driving a mentality change with the real estate industry and its consumers regarding technology-driven innovation in the data assembly, transaction, and design of buildings and cities.”
At its core, PropTech represents any newly-introduced and disruptive real estate technologies that stand to change how the real estate industry does business. These technologies may relate to any aspect of the real estate industry, such as buying, selling, restoring, renovating, appraising, managing, building, investing, leasing, and living in real estate property.
In this respect, PropTech is a broad concept that can be applied to virtually any aspect of the real estate industry. However, in terms of impact, one of the most significant categories of PropTech relates to smart home technology and smart property automation. Some of these PropTech solutions include:
- Smart water valves that detect leaks and automatically shut off the water supply in units to prevent water damage
- Smart thermostats that apartment managers can control from a distance
- Smart locks that provide remote unlocking and locking through the use of pin codes for friends/deliveries/service providers.
- Smart HVAC components that alert maintenance personnel as soon as HVAC equipment needs maintenance
- Smart lighting systems that allow you to schedule lighting routines throughout the day.
- Smart video monitoring, fire alarms, and burglar alarm systems
At PointCentral we integrate all of the above PropTech solutions and more into our smart home hubs and automated property management software. Through automated property management workflow routines, PointCentral property management systems allow you to eliminate mundane, repetitive, and time-consuming tasks to operate at higher levels of efficiency.
Aside from PointCentral, other PropTech companies that have radically changed the real estate industry in recent years include:
- Alarm.com
- Autodesk
- Yardi
- Trulia
- Zillow
How PropTech Is Changing the Multifamily Space
One area where PropTech is having a transformative effect on real estate is within the multifamily space, where tenants are always looking for lower prices when renting a home. PropTech from PointCentral can help multifamily real estate managers respond to this demand for lower prices in two important ways:
(1) Through Greater operational efficiency: One way to dramatically lower the cost of rent is to lower the cost of managing a property. With an automated rental property management solution from PointCentral, property managers can dramatically boost the financial efficiency of their operations.
At PointCentral, we help property owners reduce operational costs through a network of interconnected IoT components that connect with a central hub and perform different functions. These functions relate to monitoring, temperature adjustments, locking and unlocking of doors, organizing property management workflow tasks, and automating maintenance tasks. With remote, keyless access systems, property managers can even eliminate time-consuming tasks like key replacements, meeting maintenance personnel on-sight, and needing to be present during apartment showings.
(2) By adding value to properties: The other way PropTech from PointCentral helps in competitive business environments is to improve rental property value with smart home amenities. Statistics show that modern renters are willing to pay extra to have smart home technology. According to Multifamily Executive, “More than half of the residents surveyed, 57%, say they’d OK a jump in their rent by at least $20 a month in return for these amenities.”
Adding PropTech to multifamily properties is one way to give renters the extra value they want. Some of these amenities might include wifi in all units, mobile internet dashboards that allow for electronic rent payments, smart thermostats, smart doorbells, smart lighting systems, keyless entry systems, remote access, and smart security options.
Contact PointCentral to Learn More About PropTech and Smart Property Automation
At PointCentral, we contribute to the PropTech industry by designing, developing, and installing revolutionary smart home technology and automated property management solutions. These solutions are an excellent match for individual homeowners, small property management companies, and enterprise-scale real estate management firms.
If you’d like to learn more about smart home technology systems and smart property automation solutions, contact the PointCentral team now!
