Fintech for real estate
As the world’s largest asset class, real estate has long relied on traditional practices to do business. Now, the digital overhaul brought by fintech development is pushing the real estate industry to evolve quickly. That means better offers, faster deals, and safer investments.
The state of real estate
Between loans, mortgages, credit assessment, and payment processing, the real estate market has always depended on the financial industry to intermediate high-value negotiations. With VC-sponsored innovation pushing investment companies and banking to modernize, real estate felt the aftershocks:
Proptech, or property management technology, received a record-breaking $24 billion in investments in 2021. This trend is expected to continue at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.8 percent, multiplying proptech’s current market size of $18B almost fivefold to $86B by 2032.
However, it’s not all sunshine and roses. Despite being the world’s largest asset class, real estate has long been plagued by issues intrinsic to its business operations: decision-making and turnover rates are slow, data management is convoluted, and certain processes, such as credit underscoring, lack transparency and fairness.
Fintech solutions can fix those fundamental problems with a mix of improvements to process efficiency, enhanced data analysis apps, and specialized technology focused on closing deals quicker — preferably with as few manual inputs as possible. The result is a fintech-driven environment that’s poised to take the real estate industry to towering heights.
Tech benefits for brick-and-mortar assets
What real estate lacks in agility, fintech brings in spades. For decades, the financial sector has been developing cutting-edge processes, services, and applications that have transformed how we interact with money. Banking, traditionally a sluggish and cumbersome segment of finance, can now be interacted with instantly and from anywhere. In that sense, the benefits fintech delivers to real estate aren’t so much of a reinvention of the wheel, but a realignment. Fintech improves the real estate industry by applying the same lessons learned in its own modernization process — automation of convoluted processes, optimization of data collection and analysis, reliance on API integrations — and then adapting those solutions to the specific needs of the industry.
Increased productivity and efficiency
- Fintech APIs facilitate faster payment cycles in centralized platforms
- Digitized documentation reduces paperwork and speeds up decision-making
- Expanded customer access to financing through simplified loan applications and approvals that ultimately increase revenue
Enhanced data analytics
- Machine learning and big data-enabled underwriting and servicing
- Automated data-generated insights based on historical and current factors
- Accurate property valuations help real estate investors to manage and optimize their portfolio
Robust security features
- Reliable credit risk assessment to better identify the feasibility of deals
- Fraud-resilient transactions that employ the same compliance checks as fintech
- Greater transparency through smart contracts that safeguard contractual obligations and ensure terms are executed as agreed upon
Fintech lends tried-and-test solutions to real estate
Under the microscope, the majority of benefits of fintech in real estate aim to speed up the flow of financial information, be it data related to assets, clients, markets, transactions, or documentation itself. A transparent real estate ecosystem simplifies purchase journeys between brokers and potential customers, thus accelerating good deals (and highlighting bad ones) by removing the foggy barriers of bureaucracy that often turn prospects down, such as credit discrimination or convoluted mortgage calculations.
Enter fintech APIs. Key to the interconnectivity of modern finance, the same fintech APIs and third-party integrations that enable open banking also bestow real estate platforms with features designed to facilitate business for buyers and sellers. Payment processing, credit reporting, and even crowdfunding solutions are some of the financial integration types that have found their way to proptech infrastructure after decades of successful experiences in fintech companies.
Digital marketplace platforms
A modern real estate platform can connect landlords, brokers, realtors, property managers, customers, banks, and investors. The platforms operate as standardized marketplaces where properties can be listed for sale or lease with different focuses: Single-family home platforms like Zillow and Trulia, investment management marketplaces such as Agora and AppFolio, and crowdfunding forums like CrowdStreet and PeerStreet all have fintech APIs for payment processing and data analytics underpinning their backend.
Digital document management
As digital marketplaces become the norm, digitalizing documentation related to mortgage loans and property management is paramount to ease the flow of information in real estate and better connect brokers, property managers, realtors, and customers. DocuSign and SignDesk are great examples of companies that adapted their solutions to serve the real estate market.
Enhanced credit analysis
Instead of relying on traditional credit score systems, robust proptech platforms tap into modern data analysis to help lenders assess applicants' ability to repay their mortgages. Fintech APIs, like Plaid or T-REX, do a fine job despite having open-ended approaches or catering to complex asset classes beyond real estate, respectively.
Automated loan and mortgage applications
Smart algorithms fueled by AI, machine learning, and big data streamline the loan and mortgage application process, resulting in greater efficiencies and client conversions. Digital workflow tools like Brokermint and Rocket Mortgage can manage transactions, expedite document collection and verification, and automate commissions based on various set parameters to provide a better customer experience, entirely online.
Improved market research tools
Real estate value is dictated by dozens of data points beyond the property’s physical structure, like proximity to schools, entertainment hubs, transportation networks, and employment opportunities. Big data solutions like Yelp Fusion and Redfin can collect and aggregate these intricate datasets to meet the needs of both brokers and future homeowners.
Sales and customer analytics
Proptech data analytics like CoreLogic and DataTree aggregate plenty of property-related data records across territories, converting it into insights on assets, customers, and potential investments. They can be integrated into CRM systems such as Salesforce (a Vention partner), giving real estate companies a full suite of data analytics to monitor the performance of their offers, advertise more accurately, and edge out the competition.
Technologies that are upending real estate
The seismic shifts across the industry tend to be rooted in these technologies:
Artificial intelligence
As it did for fintech companies, AI has become a pivotal force for modern real estate platforms mostly through a one-word pitch: Automation. AI plays a crucial role in automating processes such as property search, asset evaluation, risk analysis, and general management tasks. Real estate companies like our client EliseAI have tapped the power of AI to enhance lead nurturing and improve conversions.
Big data
Fintech analytics are heavily employed in real estate solutions to help those measure risks, better understand customers, and enable some of the automations that the smart algorithms of AI provide. Data science technologies today rely on big data to enable real-time data analytics, constantly allowing up-to-date information for brokers and investors to draw their insights.
Blockchain
The decentralization and transparency intrinsic to blockchain technology are a potential game-changer for real estate. The distributed ledger technology (DLT) core to blockchain tech can eliminate intermediaries (thus reducing fees and settlement times) and reduce fraud through the technology’s remarkable resistance to the meddling of blocks already committed to the chain.
Extended reality (XR)
The umbrella term for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), XR has been extensively used to enhance the customer experience with immersive tours and virtual guides, sometimes even before the property is built. AR/VR development services are the latest way to use visual technology to facilitate property purchases quickly (and remotely).
Looking at cost-effective ways to improve your real estate fintech solutions?
Our advisory services take the guesswork out of building nimble and secure fintech products.
Fintech for real estate development services
Bottom line, your chosen fintech experts must be able to build property management platforms that make commercial, residential, and industrial real estate management and transactions more profitable. No matter the developer’s methodology, the outcome should drive automation and efficiency, help keep you competitive, and leave space for further innovation. Here’s a shortlist of what our specialists can assist with:
Consulting
Our team of experts is ready to provide comprehensive advisory and consulting services for your project and focus on its technical aspects. We can assist in clarifying the specific project requirements necessary to infuse your real estate app with the latest financial technologies.
- Business analysis and research
- System requirements specifications
- Tech stack selection
Full-cycle real estate app development
We can augment your current development team with our skilled specialists or assemble a new team to fully back your project. Our professionals are equipped to handle tasks ranging from minor adjustments to comprehensive development, whether it involves integrating a fintech component into an existing app or software or developing a platform from the ground up.
- Architecture design
- UX/UI design
- MLS/IDX software
- Native and cross-platform apps
- CRM, PMS, and ERP integrations
- Continuous support
Why build your fintech-powered real estate app with Vention
Years in fintech and real estate software development
Fintech projects delivered for the likes of Convene and EliseAI
Faster real estate transactions
Advanced analytics to grasp market dynamics, assess properties accurately, and spot high-return investments
Unparalleled precision in property valuations with our top-tier AI capabilities
Seamless integrations with over 100 essential services
Expertise in all stacks used today, as well as innovative techs such as VR, IoT, and blockchain
Robust security practices recognized by an ISO 27001 certification
Real estate apps built brick by brick
A software’s lifecycle presents no shortage of high-level decisions, ranging from vendor selection to architecture assessments to post-release refinement priorities and everything in between. But don’t fret: Our engineers rely on trustworthy methods to approach the development process and ensure delivery at every step.
Discovery
Careful research and assessment help our consultants identify the best ways to leverage financial technologies within your specific real estate environment. We thoroughly assess your key challenges and deliver a customized solution that benefits all stakeholders.
Architecture and design
Our teams are experts in crafting resilient architecture that combines robustness with scalability, ease of maintenance, and seamless updates. This approach significantly enhances the overall user experience of your solution.
Real estate app development
We have assembled a team of highly skilled specialists who excel in building fintech solutions specifically designed to enhance real estate platforms. By harnessing the cutting-edge technologies that allow the financial sector to thrive, our real estate fintech tools are primed to propel your business forward.
Third-party software integration
Our engineers nurture close-knit relationships with trusted third-party providers to ensure that every component perfectly fits your product. This collaborative approach guarantees you receive a real estate app carefully tailored to your needs.
Solution testing
Our dedicated QA team utilizes a blend of proven manual and automated testing techniques to thoroughly identify any vulnerabilities in your system. This diligent approach ensures that your end-user experience remains seamless, intuitive, and fully functional across a wide range of devices and systems.
Refinement
Our commitment to driving your KPIs remains unwavering, even post-app release. Through the data analysis of app usage and user feedback, we craft broad improvement and optimization plans. This iterative approach enables us to continuously update and enhance your real estate fintech solution, ensuring it consistently exceeds expectations and delivers outstanding results.
We never skip on security and compliance
At Vention, we’ve got an entire team dedicated to software security. So, from the get-go, rest assured that discussions about your product will include strategies to keep data safe. As with all of Vention’s custom software solutions, the security of every data point informs the entire design and build process.
Ultimately, our rigorous testing phase identifies and eliminates weaknesses long before launch.
