Mr. Aryaman Vir is the Founder & CEO of MYRE Capital, a tech-enabled fractional ownership platform. MYRE Capital is a venture by Morphogenesis. Aryaman holds an undergraduate degree in Networked and Social Systems Engineering and a Master’s in Systems Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. His background in engineering and a keen interest in Algorithms and Big Data Analytics has helped him envision a robust model that caters to a wide range of audiences interested in safe and profit yielding investments in the real estate sector. He has also created various models and processed data to identify trends and anomalies in the real estate industry.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused real estate entities to re-devise their strategies, by integrating and utilizing advanced technologies as a tool to stay abreast with the evolving landscape. .PropTech can help the real estate industry adapt to changing trends fostered by the pandemic. Property technology utilises IT resources to assist real estate entities in their business operations, such as using payments platforms to conduct safer transactions, VR technologies for visualisation, advanced ML&AI algorithms for optimizing decision processes, and automation.
Over the past few years, the sector has become increasingly tech-centric. The frontrunner that will change the real estate landscape in the post-Covid market is virtual reality (VR)
Virtual reality technologies enable the viewer to engage in a completely immersive experience, allowing them to visually interact with the objects. This technology has major potential for marketing products and services that require the customer to sense them. One such instance is the need for a customer to explore a property such as a house, hotel room, workspace, etc. They can now remotely visit a property or site. Visualization of under construction projects is another way how VR is making a home buyer’s life easy as they now do not have to rely solely on 3D renders but can now touch and feel which makes it more realistic.
Real estate properties require a customer to interact with the property to not only verify, but also to experience it. VR technology opens a whole gamut of marketing opportunities for real estate entities. A Goldman Sachs report analysing the impact of VR technology in different industries surmises that ad spend on VR technology will yield more benefits than online ads. The market size is estimated to be at $2.6 billion by 2025. The pandemic has especially brought in incredible transformations in the use of VR technologies
VR and property technology:
VR can be utilised by different stakeholders in the supply side –
For real estate brokers – Reaching out to physically distanced customers:
The most obvious benefit for real estate is that of conducting property tours online. The pandemic has made it difficult for real estate agents to enable a customer to experience a property. By using VR technology, customers can view, experience, and verify a property. This will make it significantly easier for the agents and customers to conduct online business.
For interior designers – Personalised experiences:
Customers will be able to interact with the environment and view it as per their utility. For example, customers would be able to place furniture of their choice, wall paint, interior design, etc. Modular design and VR enablers them to evaluate various configurations
For builders – Selling properties that are unfinished:
Builders have to sell their units before construction is complete. This means the customer has to completely rely on the visualised versions of the property. However, by using VR, builders can display digital visuals of the property and integrate it with personalised experience. This will allow the customer to have a better understanding of the property.
The future of the property technology industry:
As per a report by Housing.com, PropTech investments in India reached above $550 million in 2020. This investment rode on the back of the number of tech-enabled start-ups that have emerged since the pandemic began. Almost $2.4 billion have been invested in India’s PropTech market. With over 500 million internet users in India, and over 50% of real estate purchase decisions being taken online, the PropTech industry is poised to capitalise on digital technologies for marketing opportunities. With work-from-home becoming a feature of the new normal, it is estimated that over the next one year, 80% of prospective buyers are looking to purchase a residential property. 65% of these are hoping to move in to ready-to-move houses in 2021. As real estate services move online, how companies leverage PropTech will become one of the key differentiators for customers looking for great experiences and cost benefits.