Dave Garland, Managing Partner at Second Century Ventures and hotly anticipated Propertymark One speaker, discusses the potential for AI to revolutionise the way the UK real estate industry operates.
Assist and amplify
The functions of AI can be broadly categorised as assisting and amplifying. As an assistant, AI can help save time and effort by carrying out tasks such as producing marketing copy for listings, carrying out market research and conducting competitor analysis. Beyond this, it can enhance human skills by providing deeper insight into properties, locations, or clients’ requirements – allowing agents to become more agile in responding to client needs and preferences.
Changing the way we operate
In the long run, we will witness significant changes in the way we interact with technology itself, disrupting entire industries. By integrating AI into websites agents can create personalised user experiences and generate customised, real-time content (whether static research or real-time interactivity with a chatbot) swiftly and at scale.
Data is still king
Generative AI's power lies in the data that we, as collective users of the internet, have generated over the past three decades. The accuracy and integrity of that data will help to ensure that marketing and search content generated by AI will be accurate and functional for end users. While there will always be a demand for agents with exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, relationships are increasingly reliant on the information gathered about a property or a client to better serve them.
Advice for property professionals
The greatest cost of AI will be the failure to understand and engage with it. As technology continues to progress, the possibilities it presents for our industry are limitless. AI can save time and effort while offering a deeper comprehension of properties, locations, and clients' needs. As we leverage this tech to enhance our capabilities, we will ideally establish a better environment in which to provide optimal service to our customers – who are often relying heavily on us to make the biggest purchase decisions of their lives. The more agents learn about AI, the more successful they will be - those who invest in AI education will thrive in the industry.
