Technology and digitization driving transparency improvements

The drive to improve productivity and uncover new revenue streams – as well as to respond to changes in how we live and work after the COVID pandemic – has spurred a rapid increase in the use of real estate technology platforms. Many of these technologies are still at an early stage of development but adoption is growing rapidly, with venture capital funding for real estate technology companies reaching a record high of US$18.2 billion in 2021 and nearly 8,000 companies providing technology solutions across the built environment globally, an increase of over 300% from 10 years ago.

The availability of new, high-frequency and more granular data is boosting the transparency of real estate in ways that were unimaginable just a decade ago. In some countries, the result is a more in-depth understanding of buildings and markets than ever before, from real-time occupancy or foot-traffic tracking to data aggregators compiling information on niche asset types, and even the use of building and city-level digital twins for urban planning and forecasting.

Our survey shows that the highest levels of technology adoption are in ‘Highly Transparent’ countries. Several high-income Asia Pacific markets, including Singapore, Hong Kong SAR and South Korea, also feature near the top of the rankings, while Mainland China’s leading cities benefit from one of the largest technology sectors globally. Deep technology ecosystems, advanced digital infrastructure and the availability of capital are allowing these countries to generate significant volumes of granular and real-time information across property types and to speed up transaction processes. This is widening the information gap with less digitized markets.

Impact of digitization still at an early stage 

The growing adoption of technology platforms and digitized processes is already boosting transparency across the real estate industry, but we are still in the early stages of seeing the massive impact that technology will have. Much of the data being generated – from listings sites and workplace apps to IoT sensors and BIM models – continues to be siloed in individual platforms or companies, while data and technology standards remain incompatible in many cases and the landscape of solutions and providers is highly fragmented. 

There are a range of initiatives underway to overcome these obstacles and looking ahead to the next edition of our Transparency Index, we expect greater integration of platforms and standards will play a key role in helping to drive greater data availability and unlock the potential of technology in driving greater transparency.