The Digital Transformation of Real Estate in 2021

It’s been more than a full year since the onset of the global pandemic and as with the rest of the world, the real estate industry has undergone pivotal changes to provide immediate solutions for business continuity. As an industry professional with over 25 years of experience, I have seen first-hand how the real estate community can be resistant to change. Organizations like ours have been innovating options for digital selling and increased efficiencies for years. The digital transformation of real estate is not new, but the pandemic has significantly accelerated this process. We’re seeing an unprecedented rate of adoption for PropTech like digital sales software enabling builders and agents to sell remotely in real time with cloud-based technology. Through necessity, they are reshaping and rethinking the way they transact business, which will prove to have significant long-term rewards. What is particularly interesting about this catalyst for change is that beyond the increased demand for digital real estate sales software, early adopters of this technology are expanding their software footprint to create new efficiencies for their operations and shifting gears on how they communicate with prospective buyers. Presentation centres can no longer be the only point of interaction with purchasers – builders and agents are quickly learning that there are various avenues for educating prospective buyers. Paper brochures have pivoted to digital portals to give full access and visibility to sales assets – by a simple click of a button, agents and developers are now able to showcase projects and the surrounding communities all virtually. Our SaleFish team recently powered sales for Cachet Homes’ ParQ project, a community of townhomes in Brantford, and they sold out of all 150 units in four days using this technology without a sales centre...