Vikram is an established business leader with unparalleled experience & expertise in Real Estate and Technology. He has over 21 years of experience in incubating and scaling successful businesses. He started his career in 2000 working with Fortune 500 technology companies in the US. Subsequently, he co-founded two start-ups between 2005 & 2009. Vikram has a keen eye for customer needs and in his capacity as Executive Chairman, plays a key role in shaping innovations at Sell.Do, Kylas and BeyondWalls.
With the acceptance of advanced technology in varied sectors, new opportunities have opened up for startups across sectors. The real estate sector has also seen an explosion of tech- innovation over the last decade. Today, the industry is expected to contribute to 13 percent of India’s GDP by 2025, and reach a $1 trillion market size by 2030.
Owing to the unformed nature of Indian real estate and the changing demands of the consumers, proptech has become more vital, and advanced technologies like AI and VR have become more popular.
What is Proptech? How does it help?
Proptech is a collaborative term used to define startups offering technologically innovative products or new business models for the real estate markets. There are various segments within PropTech: the real estate market per se (PropTech), smart cities and buildings, the home building industry (ConTech) and finance.
Proptech allows large and small-scale industries to simplify complex operations and manage multiple projects simultaneously with efficiency at all stages.
Today, the Proptech segment in India is expected to grow to $1 Tn by 2030 from only $120 Bn in 2017. Solutions like sales automation, inventory management, omni-channel communication, online transactions & payments, post-sales documentation have increased homebuyer convenience, increased profit margins of developers and helped channel partners make the most of the surging market conditions.
But what next?
Here are some of the proptech innovations that will be the driving force of the Indian real estate industry in the coming years.
Increased demand for virtual home tours: Post pandemic, majority of consumers have started opting for virtual and mobile real estate services that provide a virtually simulated life-like experience. This has increased popularity of virtual tools like 3D and VR headsets in the early stages of buying or leasing period. As virtual tours of property and sites for prospective buyers saves time and effort, they are rapidly gaining traction and are becoming a mainstay in the real estate business.
E-signing becomes the norm: A game-changing trend, e-signing facility has helped brokers and real estate companies facilitate signing of lease, rent or purchase agreements, contracts, NOC from various departments, and other property transactions. Implementing digitally signed documents has saved precious time for real estate stakeholders. With this technology, users can create and e-sign legal documents online without visiting a lawyer.
Rental property management and automation takes off: Some of the operation functions such as managing leads, sorting data, and providing responses have become important as they bring huge cost implications to the organisation. Therefore, a complete automation for property management is a must. Top developers are now incorporating data pipelines and algorithms into their decision-making process to manage pivotal information and industry data.
Smart homes and automation: The smart home market in India is expected to grow to a size of $6 billion by 2022. Thanks to the advancements in technology adoption and the rise in millennial and Gen-Z homebuyers, home automation is now becoming quite popular. Some key parameters like luxury, security, comfort, and convenience are making home automation and smart homes increasingly popular.
Despite the pandemic lead headwinds, real estate sector in India has been largely resilient and showing signs of growth across segments such as office, I&L, residential and alternative real estate segments. With rising proptech adoption in the real estate sector, 2022 has the potential to become a period of rapid transformation, enabling industry players to reach out to consumers in a more efficient way.