"The commercial real estate industry is getting into technology in a big way – finally – according to a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Global investment in property technology, otherwise known as “proptech,” is expected to hit a record US$6.3-billion this year, up 40 percent from $4.5-billion in 2018.
An all-encompassing term that covers technology as a solution for creating, developing, renovating, buying, selling, marketing and managing real estate, proptech is increasingly getting buy-in from stakeholders after initial hesitancy as a way to improve operations and bottom lines.
“You can do all that more efficiently with the use of technology,” says Fred Cassano, partner for private company services at PwC Canada. “It’s impacting all facets of the real-estate continuum.”
Though the term is broad, two particular prop-tech applications – artificial intelligence and drones – are especially seeing increased adoption among construction companies and building owners, according to the report Emerging Trends in Real Estate."