The Rise of Indian Proptech: An Uncovering Change

Technology has become the very lifeboat of any business or industry today. With a myriad of factors like rapid urbanization, digitalization, increase in the disposal and dual incomes, technology has played a crucial role in driving these trends.   

The adoption of advanced technology in various sectors and industries has opened a whole new realm of opportunities to capitalize on.   

Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality are just the tip of the iceberg in explaining how far we have come in technological expansion and advancement.   

Real estate is no exception to this technological disruption. While the global real estate industry has undergone a massive paradigm shift, Indian real estate has also felt the effects of that shift.   

And amidst these digital transformations, the word "Proptech" in real estate has become a buzzword being thrown around a lot.   

What is Proptech?  

Proptech in Indian real estate is a relatively new term. But it is more in line with Fintech, Edtech, Healthtech and others. All of these are a representation of tech innovation in the respective industries.   

Proptech, on the other hand, stands for 'Property' and 'Technology'. It highlights the importance of technology in the Indian real estate industry, whether commercial, residential or construction.   

It's cross-industry technologies that will change the way we research, buy and sell properties.   

It will help larger enterprises manage large-scale projects, and multiple other small-scale industries and enterprise manage multiple projects simultaneously with more accuracy and efficiency in various locations.  

The incorporation of Proptech in real estate will help simplify large scale complex operations and management.   

Even though the term can be traced back to the 1980s, it has only recently begun to make noise in the real estate industry and, more recently, in the Indian Real Estate.   

The Proptech segment in India has grown exponentially in the last few years and is expected to reach $1 Tn by 2030 from only $120 Bn in 2017 (INC 42). 

Evolution of Proptech in India  

Early Proptech startups like Magic bricks, 99 acres, and others mainly focused on providing a digital space for listing various real estate properties, including commercial and residential.   

By doing this, they were able to eliminate an intermediatory and drive higher user benefits. With passing years, this also became overcrowded, and competition for online real estate increased.   

Consumer needs also evolved; they now needed more information to make effective decisions. With changing needs of the consumers Proptech became more crucial, and advanced technologies like AI and VR became prevalent.   

Simultaneously, soaring real estate transaction streams fueled demand for planned business information and data analytics due to a significant market gap owing to the amorphous nature of Indian real estate.   

Proptech data aggregators offering real estate market data services have also emerged, capitalizing on this unmet market need. Earlier, the primary need of users was searching for houses. However, the Indian consumers desired more.   

This search and evolved need of Indian consumers led to a crop of newer Proptech startups with advanced technological answers to these problems.   

Proptech Trends Today and the Future Beyond   

With the increased need for information and better home buying and selling experiences, the communication gap between Proptech startups and existing real estate players is continuously reducing.   

Even though the current trends can be specific, it may only expand its wings in various avenues for a better consumer experience. Some of them are-  

1. Artificial Intelligence and Automation of real estate data  

2. Big Data and Digitization of property data assets  

3. Sustainable technology in construction and maintenance   

4. IoT and IIoT with drones for 360-view display  

5. Chatbots for customer-focused interaction  

6. Smart retail technology for property owners  

With an initial resistance to the evolving changes, Indian real estate has come around to implement and incorporate the changes for the better good of developers, brokers, investors and consumers.   

Today what Indian consumers seek from Proptech startups is full lifecycle support in property management and information on buying and selling data to make long term decisions with precision.   

Proptech Disruption: An Evolving Paradigm of the 21st Century  

As more people have become aware and accepting of Proptech in Indian real estate, it has helped the industry to move towards new advancements.

With the increasing number of players and various tools at their disposal it has been a breath of new air in the industry for both the developers and the consumers.   

Proptech is helping in reducing transactional costs and increasing consumer convenience, emphasizing the fact that the 'customer is king'.

It also contributes to more significant unit sales and rental occupancies due to the 'best match' between property sellers and buyers.   

Consumer demand has always propelled technology adoption, so the tech-savvy real estate investor becomes more aware of real estate inefficiencies. Demand for Proptech will continuously rise and propagate more such advances and conversations in the future.