MAIN IMAGE: Jacques Rossouw, CEO of LOOM Property Insights
Senior writer
If you aren’t talking about AI in real estate, why? Is it fear of the unknown or of being replaced? Does it intrigue you? What’s the big deal?
Questions and answers about AI abound across the internet, and who’s answering them? Yes, you guessed it: mostly AI! The message is clear: if you aren’t using it effectively, you may be losing any number of advantages to streamline and become super efficient. That there is hesitancy is understandable given fear of job losses, but as pointed out by Dr Justin Cohen, a world leader in human transformation, “New technology replaces humans who don’t use new technology.”
Whether you realise it or not, we are in an AI-first era. Forbes says this translates into a mindset that prioritises and uses AI as a primary interaction in decision-making, innovation, communication, creativity, and problem-solving.
Most businesses admit they need more improvement in these areas, know they could use AI and put it on the agenda, but think a ChatBot ticks that box. This is not true.
In her book, ‘AI First, Human Always, ‘ Sandy Carter says that most companies today have not matured enough to integrate AI deeply into their operations; instead, there is a superficial adoption. Yet simply adopting AI to follow a trend does not constitute an AI-first strategy, such as installing a chatbot on your website or using ChatGPT to write listings, without a clear plan for how customer experience can be enhanced or integrated with other systems. “AI-first is not about having AI for the sake of AI; it’s about making it a central part of how your business operates and delivers value.”
What is really interesting is that a McKinsey Global Survey revealed that employees are far ahead of their organisations in using generative AI. The ‘generative’ relates to the creation of new content based on existing data, so yes, to chatbots and virtual assistants, research summaries, and assistance in writing emails, listings, and other documents.
AI still needs a human to guide it – the case of a false property listing in Australia
Whilst this use of AI is extremely helpful, depending entirely on AI to generate content can be disastrous. An Australian estate agent who used ChatGBT to write a listing for a rental, erroneously advertised the house as being near two schools that did not exist. The dialogue that ensued was heated, revealing that most estate agents are using AI, especially for routine tasks such as listings, blogs, email responses and market reports.
Leanne Pilkington, president of the Real Estate Institute of Australia, said that the industry was embracing AI technology for “routine tasks” so agents could spend more time on “meaningful client interactions”. Her warning? “Agents need to be aware that tools like ChatGPT can generate inaccurate information, so it should never be relied upon 100%.”
The most powerful way to use AI is to augment it with human capabilities, not replace humans. As Dr Cohen says: “AI isn’t here to steal your job. It’s here to steal your attention. Use it to grow, not numb.” He understands the initial fear of AI being able to do ‘your job better’ but as he discovered AI is really not the end of jobs but the beginning of better ones and that doesn’t come at the cost of limiting human potential, but rather morphing into unlimited potential.
Whilst AI-powered real estate has yet to really kick off in SA, it is amply used elsewhere in the world. Realtor.com is a tech app that runs sales, rentals, purchases, pre-approvals, and other processes through a digital app. AI is also used to ‘comb listings and generate leads, which it sells to partner agents’. Alongside the website, it advertises that it is ‘hiring’ humans, of course.
What AI can do for the property industry
In India, CareerSocially, an AI-driven lead generation software for property practitioners, has been in operation since 2016. It enables members to generate leads using AI and automatically assigns the sales leads to the appropriate person.
In China’s proptech landscape, nearly half of the AI implementations are based on Artificial Intelligence of Things-based applications (AIoT). This refers to the integration of AI technologies with Internet of Things (IoT) devices, enabling them to perceive, learn, and make intelligent decisions. Although predominantly applied in property and facility management, as well as asset operation and management, AIoT applications encompass various areas, such as smart buildings, smart offices, and whole-house intelligence.
Generically, AI is also saving real estate professionals from spending thousands on staging homes. It stages rooms with precision, placing furniture that has been scaled and styled without changing the original architecture. It automatically analyses images, identifies room elements, and generates photorealistic furniture designs that fit the space.
Andrei Kasyanau is the cofounder and CEO at Glorium Technologies, a startup advisor, and an expert in health and real estate tech. In a Forbes article, he wrote that his company implemented AI solutions in a real estate company to automate property price estimations and track market trends, leading to a notable boost in revenue.
“Our learning model was able to predict prices accurately and allow users to explore regional property value trends. We also assisted a real estate investment company with automating condition assessments, which helped increase listing engagement, reduce time-on-market and uncover more sellable features per property,” said Kasyanau.
Multinational strategy and management consulting firm McKinsey reveals that real estate companies gain over 10 percent or more in net operating income through more efficient operating models, stronger customer experience, tenant retention, new revenue streams, and smarter asset selection.
This has led the organisation to acknowledge that getting started can be daunting but it urges executives to start simply. “Our technology professionals advocate for a“2×2” approach: identify two use cases that can launch a company into taking ownership of data, deliver measurable impact quickly, and build excitement; and identify two use cases that are more aspirational, will fundamentally change the business, and take more time to deliver. This approach encourages companies to push the technology toward its full potential.”
LOOM Property Insights launches AI valuation model in South Africa
Jacques Rossouw, CEO of LOOM Property Insights, explains that AI can be divided into two main applications: generative or large language models, where a vast amount of data can be consumed and return results that would take a human days to process. The second application uses images to make and inform what appears in the images without human interaction, not just generative images.
“LOOM Property Insights recently launched the first property-adjusted valuation models using AI-driven computer vision in South Africa. The condition of a property and the quality of its finishing and interior can have a substantial impact on its valuation. Previously, the only way to determine the condition and quality of the property was through physical inspection, but that has now changed.
AI can now determine the condition and quality of the property with images (i.e. listing images) and even tag the images with room types and scores. The application can ensure unbiased valuations and faster turnaround times for lenders. This is a real-world application where AI adds value to the selling and lending process and reduces the time it takes. The real estate agent remains an important link in the process and AI assists in less uncertainty and faster decision making”, he concludes.
