In 1962, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke proposed his third law: any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Over 60 years later, the future has arrived. AI can analyse vast quantities of information in seconds and automate tasks that once took hours.
Yet there is a curious problem in the property industry. We have built technology that can do extraordinary things, but buying a home can still feel old-fashioned.
A buyer can instruct a surveyor online in seconds, but still be asked to provide information another professional already holds. Data can be processed instantaneously, yet transactions can spend weeks or months waiting for information to move between parties. The technology isn’t the problem. The way we connect it is.
HOMEBUYING CHALLENGES
Recent research by the OPDA into the home-buying process makes the scale of that friction clear. Some 30% of consumers identified the time taken to exchange contracts as the most challenging part of buying a home. And 64% said they had been asked to provide the same information more than once, while 58% had experienced a transaction falling through after an accepted offer.
Consumers do not need more technology. They need the technology available to work better together.
The industry has spent years digitising stages of the property transaction, from mortgage applications and identity verification to professional instruction and transaction management. But the consumer experiences the whole process as one transaction.
If those systems do not communicate effectively, digitising another individual process simply creates another silo. The opportunity now is to move from digitisation to integration.
That means technology that removes duplication, connects professionals and allows data to be used repeatedly and securely.
ADMINISTRATIVE FRICTION
A survey can materially influence a major financial decision a person will make, yet the process surrounding it has traditionally contained administrative friction, from instruction and booking to reporting and communication. Technology can change that without diminishing the role of the surveyor.
At Houzecheck, AI is being used as an additional layer of quality assurance. Reports can be assessed for consistency and completeness, with prompts helping surveyors identify areas where wording or other elements could be strengthened.
Structured reporting and digital workflows can also reduce repetitive administration and make the process easier for brokers, introducers and customers. The important distinction is that technology supports professional judgement rather than replacing it.
AUTOMATED OUTCOMES
As AI moves further into professional services, the question should not simply be whether a task can be automated, but whether automation improves the outcome.
A system that removes an hour of repetitive administration is useful. A system that helps a professional identify an omission is valuable. A system that removes accountability from a decision requiring expertise is something else entirely.
The most successful PropTech will be technology that solves a problem for the person at the end of the process. For property, that means asking better questions about what innovation is actually achieving.
Did the buyer have to provide the same information twice? Did the survey arrive when expected? Could the broker see what was happening without chasing? Did technology reduce the opportunity for an error or omission? Did the transaction move faster as a result?
MEASURING PROGRESS
Those are better measures of progress than the number of platforms launched or processes automated. Technology alone cannot solve poor processes, incompatible systems or fragmented data.
The next generation of PropTech needs to focus not just on individual pieces of the transaction, but on how those pieces fit together.
For surveying, that means technology taking care of more repetitive work, quality checks and administration, giving surveyors more time to apply their expertise where it matters.
“PropTech may be the technology consumers don’t notice.”
For consumers, it should mean a property transaction that feels less complicated, less repetitive and more predictable. The irony is that the best PropTech may be the technology consumers don’t notice.
If a buyer receives a clear, accurate survey sooner, if a broker can see the progress of an instruction without chasing, or if information only needs to be entered once, the technology has done its job.
It has made the transaction feel less like the future and more like what the present should already be.
Clarke imagined a world where sufficiently advanced technology would resemble magic.
The challenge for property is different. We need sufficiently good technology to make the magic unnecessary.
We’re embracing the challenge and working to iterate our existing systems to take advantage of the tools that exist now – with a goal of improving the customer experience without relying on ‘magic’.
