proptech It is a term that was born in in 2014, fruit of the union of the words property (property) and technology (technology), and which refers to the companies and technologies that link real estate sector and digital field.
It is a more current concept, which seeks to revolutionize the world of real estate to fully adapt them to the digital world: a true revolution within the classic real estate sector that is quite reminiscent of what happened with the world of finance, generating a term better known as fintech, and that brings together companies that use new technologies adapted to finance to allow users to carry out endless operations via the Internet.
Characteristics of proptech
The proptech model links the services offered by real estate classicsand what portals like Fotocasa or Idealista carried out more than two decades ago, being at that time something really innovative.
Thus, in addition to being able to carry out typical transactions such as contacting an individual to rent or sell a property, or enjoy online visits from our own computer, proptech companies group other activities that add value to the real estate.
Some of the areas covered by the proptech are:
- Rental and online purchase of real estate
- big data solutions adapted to this new concept.
- Specific management software for the real estate sector
- Application of new technologies, such as:
- Virtual reality to move to the property that we want to visit, we will even have the possibility to see which finishes best fit the construction.
- With the 3D we will be able to visit apartments that have not even been built. Even 3d printerswhich will allow us to make impressions of the models that we have designed virtually.
- views through droneswhich will provide us with a global vision, from the air, of the property.
Some of the main names of proptech in Spain
There are more and more proptechs that have been emerging in Spain in recent years. Some of the most prominent in this regard are:
Bady It has become one of the references in terms of searching and booking rooms from anywhere in the world. It was launched in 2015 with the aim of becoming the largest medium/long-stay rental marketplace in Europe, as stated at the time by the company’s CEO, Charles Pierre.
In his own words, «Our focus has always been to develop a platform that uses technology to solve many of the market’s inefficiencies. Since our launch, we have managed to connect more than 6 million people and that is something that makes me proud every time I think about it.
In a sector like real estate, which is not very transparent and full of difficulties, promising a better and perfect world no longer works. Barcelona and Madrid are not Gotham, nor is Badi a Batman that will magically solve all their problems, we just want people to have a little easier and more efficient access to housing, and find a place to live comfortably according to your needs”.
clikalia is a proptech founded in 2017 by Francisco Alister Moreno and Pablo Fernandezdevoting himself to the purchase of houses for later reform them and, subsequently, reincorporate them back into the market, this time with a revaluation. This is possible through a business strategy that gives priority to speed in processes, thus establishing a clear difference with traditional companies in the real estate sector.
Clikalia currently has a presence in Spain and Mexico, where they have around 2,400 real estate properties.
Housell is a platform that offers buyers and sellers an innovative way of improve your buying and selling process of real estate, with the aim of simplify and automate real estate transactionsthus providing transparency in these operations to the sector and, in addition, reducing average sales times compared to traditional real estate companies.
To talk about Housfy, we must clearly talk about its founders: Albert Bosch Y Miquel A. Mora. In , Bosch told us that the idea of Housfy arose from the need to digitize a very traditional real estate sector. In this way, after spending 3 years within his work team, in 2015 he decides to explore new projects, with this in mind.
In this way, Housfy began its growth in the real estate and rental ecosystem, with the proposal of offering a more agile and digitized service, with which they carry out the valuation of the property together with a global marketing plan, to properly position the property and define the most appropriate value for it. In the same way, they are in charge of the entire process of managing contacts, photographs and publicity, purchase offers and processing; so that finally the owner makes the decision to sell to whoever he thinks best.
Housfy’s growth has been continuous and after the pandemic, managing to close 2021 with a growth of more than 100%. It supposes a total of income for the company of €15 million, product of having specified:
- more of 2,000 housing purchase transactions.
- more of 2,000 mortgage transactions signed.
- and reach the 1,000 rentals managed in portfolio.
Idealista is undoubtedly one of the benchmarks in the real estate sector in our country. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Madrid, Spain, Idealista supports approximately 40,000 real estate agents and 38 million monthly unique visitors in southern Europe by providing an online classifieds marketplace for home buyers and sellers. In addition, idealista’s online mortgage brokerage, data analytics and CRM tools make it a key destination for prospective homeowners and sellers in Spain, Italy and Portugal. In September 2020, the Swedish fund EQT bought Idealista for 1,321 million euros.
is an online platform for long and medium stay residential rentals. A service similar to Airbnb, which over time has already expanded to more than 35 cities and more than 15 countries in the world.
Through its app or website you can rent houses, rooms in shared apartments and student residences, which are viewed online thanks to first-person HD videos that show all the details of the house, high-quality 360º photographs, plans of each property, comprehensive descriptions and neighborhood information.
Spotahome’s story begins in 2014, when its four founders, Alejandro Artacho, Bruno Bianchi, Hugo Monteiro and Bryan McEire After facing the obstacles of renting a home remotely, they realized that renting a house should be as easy as making an online purchase.
The startup started with just nine rental properties in Madrid and in just two hours they got the first tenant on its online platform, who made a reservation for a year and a half.
Tiko was founded in 2018 with the purpose that anyone who uses its services to sell a home can complete that sale in a few days.
Tiko’s dynamic consists of valuing the home and then make a bid for it in 24 hours, free of charge, and without the need to physically go to it. Once the offer has been accepted, Tiko is in charge of carrying out a technical and legal inspection of the apartment, managing the transfer of ownership and making the payment in a few days.
Ukio is one of the youngest proptechs on the market today in Spain. It was founded in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, proposing a new real estate approach within the Spanish sector.
According to its founders, the brothers Stanley Y Jeremy fourteau, Ukio’s main idea is to offer tenants a high-level apartment rental solution that allows them to feel as if they were at home, thus guaranteeing the greatest possible comfort and flexibility in the process.
Vivla is characterized by offering a real estate model based on the fractional purchase of any property. This means that anyone can register as the legal owner of a property and enjoy that property without having to have 100% of that property in their hands.
Likewise, Vivla complements this service with the display of a catalog of services for the home, so that the client can get the most out of each stay and «feel like home”.
a huge industry
But there is more: initiatives within the field of rent online as the international giant Airbnb, Rentalia, Homeaway, Hundredrooms or Wimdu also participate in this sector. As a crowdfunding platform we find houserswhich gives the possibility of investing in real estate from 50 euros.
But proptech also covers many other areas, such as home automation, with tools like iomando either mommy that even offer to open doors or adjust the temperature from the mobile itself.
What’s more: over time, proptech in Spain has generated a real boom in terms of platforms that make it easier for future tenants or owners to locate the properties they need: giants such as Fotocasa or Habitacliawhich have been joined by many other proposals, such as piso.com, tucasa.com or yaencontre.com, or aggregators for all this immense real estate offer, such as Trovit, Nestoria or Mitula. Of course, there are also other more general options that reach the real estate market, as in the case of .
Digitization of the real estate sector in Spain
Proptech technology is currently in constant evolution and in search of the best solutions to meet the needs of the real estate sector. All this provides great value and improves user experiences on a large scale. You just have to take a look at our selection to get an idea of the degree of integration with new technologies that the sector has reached.
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