In the News — Inside The International Capitals of PropTech

In The News rounds up the most important PropTech headlines from the last week and serves it to you with a side of insight and opinion. Hit us up on Twitter with your feedback!

Top Stories:

New Guiness World Record Category Celebrates High Performing Realtors

Nationally ranked real estate legend Ben Caballero has scored himself a Guiness World Record for home sales.

The official category reads as “most annual home sales transactions through MLS by an individual sell side real estate agent”, and Caballero has the stats to match. Through 3,556 transactions in 2016, Caballero’s sales volume amounted at a mind-numbing $1.44 Billion.

The veteran agent has been in the business for over 50 years and first got his broker’s license at the tender age of 21. Based out of Texas, most of Caballero’s sales come through his builders based out of Dallas-Fort-Worth, Houston, and San Antonio, among others.

During the announcement ceremony in Denver, Callabero was floored with the honor and distinction. “It’s incredible that, until now, no real estate agent has ever been recognized for setting a world record for home sales. I am honored,” Caballero said in a press statement.

London Ranked as Europe’s Leader in PropTech

International legal conglomerate Osborne Clarke has released a study that highlights London at the forefront of Europe’s PropTech revolution.

When it comes to usage of technology and the fruitful nature of PropTech startups, they have found the following:

• Over two fifths (42%) of technology experts think London is the leading city for PropTech in Europe
• Amsterdam (28%), Berlin (26%), Paris (23%) and Stockholm (23%) tail behind London to rank in the top five
• London is also expected to still be leading the way in five years’ time although other cities are expected to catch up

Hong Kong and China Emerge Lead Pacific Asia’s 4.8b PropTech Market

In a recent press release, Hong Kong and China have been marked as the leaders of Asia’s PropTech market, securing US $3 Billion out of a total $4.8 Billion in Asia Pacific’s total attracted investments.

While these seem like impressive figures, Hong Kong is actually making up for lost time. They have stunted their own growth by their high living costs, traditional financing structures, red tape with regulators, and a stagnant secondary market. Home sellers historically are not incentivized to invest in the marketplace, but with private-sector companies now beginning to leverage PropTech solutions, it could breathe new life into the stagnant housing market of years past.

Quick Hits:

UpstreamRE Returns After Developmental Hiatus

UpstreamRE, the online service that caters to real estate data management, has resurfaced and relaunched after two years of development. Upstream and the NAR (National Association of Realtors) had signed a letter of intent to partner to create a data entry and collection platform that will function as a middleman between real estate firms and the recipients of their data, including MLSs.

This will change the flow of data, making Upstream the starting point, rather than MLSs.

OJO Labs Raises 20.5 Million for AI-based Househunting Assistant

Real estate AI startup OJO Labs has raised $20.5 million to conclude their Series B round. The startup based out of Austin, Texas had this recent round led by the likes of Realogy, the Royal Bank of Canada, Northwestern Mutual Fund Ventures and ServiceMaster.

OJO follows a very interesting and green assistive AI model, allowing consumers to ask questions at any stage of their homesearch process. The assistant follows in the lineage of Alexa or Siri, helping consumers ask whatever questions they need no matter how early in the process.

Notarize Raises $20 Million From Lennar and Realogy

In a round led by industry mammoths Lennar and Realogy, Notarize has bookended a round of funding worth $20 million. This brings their total amount raised to $31 million.

Notarize’s product is built on a platform that has professional notaries go over documents via video call. The company has expanded in the last few years into other services, such as completely digital online home-buying closings and online refinancing.

ICYMI:

Is The World Ready for Smart Cities?

This lends itself to a larger opportunity for private companies, as social impact investing will likely be a major piece of the smart city puzzle. Investments in technologies that emphasize and monitor efficiencies and saving costs will become projects of the utmost importance and be profit streams for venture capital players.

So, while impact investing will see companies rooted in efficiency and sustainability be rewarded, our privacy and ownership will be leveraged and compromised at the hands of privatization. Is this still responsible urban development?

When a House Inspector Might Not Be Enough

If you’re concerned about structural inadequacies of the property you’re looking at, a good move is to talk to other real estate investors in your area and get them to recommend an inspector, or at the very least verify the credibility of the one currently in use. There are various levels of accreditation that an inspector can achieve, and these can be crucial to verify the legitimacy and experience of the inspector.

For more insight on #PropTech, data use-cases, and guides on home-buying/investing, check out our blog here.