PropTech Today: Nurturing new PropTech into the industry

In this piece, Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, discusses how the trade body is working to ensure member agents get the best of new solutions entering the marketplace.

It doesn’t work! It’s not fit for purpose! We pay for it and don’t bother using it! It crosses over with other solutions! Not another Dashboard….

These are comments we all hear or utter as yet more and more PropTech solutions are unleashed upon us on what feels like an almost daily basis.

There is no doubt that PropTech remains an exciting and growing industry and, whilst the drive to address the industry’s biggest challenges through technology has increased, not all of it works the way we want or need it to.

The number of PropTech solutions keeps increasing, and often try to solve problems that often don’t exist.

In fact, the number of PropTech start-ups rose by 300% in the last decade. Global investments have also been boosted from £7.1 billion in 2020 to £15.5 billion in 2021, with the UK pouring in £1.6 billion.

With a significant number of products coming to the fore, Propertymark is aware of the implications caused by the crossover and layering between each technology which often complicates an agent’s working environment and adds to cost. We continue to keep that in mind and work with various companies and organisations to limit it as much as possible.

The practical expertise from our organisation and our members has over the years helped to mould many upcoming products and we continue to have a strong working relationship moving forward to ensure the future of PropTech is practical.

Our commitment within the tech field allows us to be able to offer our Propertymark members direct access to current industry leading PropTech solutions with exclusive discounts. A list of our Industry Suppliers along with the discounts available can be found here.

As the world of PropTech evolves, Propertymark’s early engagement in the process is important as we provide thought leaders in the arena with an ear to the ground in order to shape how these technologies will actually work for agents and be created with longevity and usefulness in mind.

Members and key stakeholders within Propertymark become active mentors within organisations such as the REACH UK accelerator programme for example which actively draws on sector expertise to inform the selection of PropTech start-ups giving them access to mentoring, backing and support to launch their products.

In continuing with our mission to mould future technology for the sector, Propertymark recently attended REACH UK’s demo day where new, cutting-edge technology entering the sector was showcased, including:

• Residently, a partnership service for agents, landlords and property managers which guides renters through the rental journey from referencing to renewals.

• Monspire, a tool that manages businesses owners’ finances by analysing cashflow and shows companies what funding and capital is available to them.

• Property Deals Insight which provides in-depth data on 27 million+ UK homes helping investors and estate agents analyse and package property investments.

• Safe2, a management company which ensure all required safety certificates are completed keeping a property compliant.

After listening to our calls on the most pressing challenges over the years, successful technologies who operate across a diverse range of market segments and specialisations have continued to enter the marketplace.

We continue to have a keen interest in the experiences that our members have when onboarding new solutions in order to arm us with real information in our further discussions. If you’re interested in getting involved in shaping new evolving PropTech, to help make it more suitable and relevant for our sector, please feel free to email me at nathan@propertymark.co.uk.

*Nathan Emerson is CEO at Propertymark