Experts hinge next frontier in real estate deals on tech

Experts in the real estate industry have revealed that the next frontier that would redefine the narrative in Nigeria’s housing sector would be the deployment of the latest technology for the rapid growth of the business.

According to the experts, who spoke on the sidelines of the first Property-technology Lab, organised by Landwey in Lagos, instead of disrupting the sector, the latest generation of real estate technology has improved efficiencies of the existing processes in the industry.

The Chief Executive Officer of Landwey, Olawale Ayilara, said: “Technology and all of its accompanying mechanisms are here to stay. We can’t be seen to be working against its ideals and entrance, neither can we afford to be caught in the quagmire of obsolete. We need to move along with the changing times; hence the birth of Prop-Tech Lab Nigeria. We realize that technology is showing its hands in virtually every sector, including real estate.

“There has never been a better time to jump on tech-driven methodologies and operations, especially now as technology begins to gain ground in our sector, we have to move along its fine lines of development.”

He stated that Prop-Tech Lab would provide the most vibrant, innovative tools, resources, think-tank and technical know-how that will prove to be indispensable for every real estate player in the 21st century.

Ayilara told The Guardian that Prop-tech Lab will prove to be the opium of 21st-century real estate business in terms of its processes, the storehouse of information, market stats, projections, and basically everything a real estate player needs to do business smartly and tech-like in the year 2020.

“The Prop-Tech Lab will most assuredly provide the much-needed boost in terms of practical information, innovative platforms and tools direly needed in the real estate sector in Nigeria”, he said.

Already the impact of technology is seen in the sector with the opportunity it offers to people to find and fund real estate projects from the comfort of their mobile devices and earn good returns at the end of the project cycle.

Speaking on the importance of technology in the industry and recent partnership with Landwey on tech platform for real estate project, the Managing Director, Vistafront, Segun Ajuwon, had said more than 70 percent of today’s buyers search for homes online using block-chain to Virtual Reality (VR) home tours, technology is shaping the real estate

He said: “For every project, we feature on the site, we also have in place a strict vetting process carried out by our in-house team and our other partners.”