Big data will lower real estate risk

Friday, 14 July 2017 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

What if you could predict the future? What would you do? As an investor this would be a dream come through and with advancements in machine learning it is now not just a fantasy; predicting the future is now a reality.

In classical antiquity, an oracle was a person considered to offer insightful and wise advice or precognition of the future; receiving information directly from the gods. In modern times, we have replaced gods with machines and their ability to see into the future is now an invaluable source of information for everyone from real estate developers, buyers, sellers, and investors. Imagine if you could predict where house prices will increase in the future, where demand will surge, what people will want and how much they will be able to afford. With this information developers could maximise profit margins, homeowners could sell at the perfect time, and investors could buy the best performing assets.

Lamudi – the global real estate platform is leading the way when it comes to big data. This week, they will roll out ‘The Oracle’ which is set to become real estate professional’s crystal ball. Ask the Oracle in what part of the country there is an undersupply of apartments and it will generate a response. This is massive for developers who are looking to analyse what type of building they should construct next. “If you know there is insufficient supply yet growing demand at a very specific price point your risk level drops substantially,” said Lamudi Co-Founder Dr. Paul Philipp Hermann. “With detailed data-driven analysis from The Oracle, investors and developers will be able to enhance their decision making capabilities,” Hermann added.

The big winners in the future of real estate will be those that harness the power of big data. Real estate is full of horror stories of ghost estates, white elephant properties, and bad decisions that sink a company. Developers spend millions on marketing new projects when there is simply not enough demand. A fraction of this expenditure used carefully to analyse the raw data would have been money better spent. A data model will take in many factors like income level in the area, demographics, behaviour trends, and will predict whether a project will succeed or not.

It’s not only developers who stand to gain from new machine insights. Agents will be able to analyse patterns of user behaviour to pinpoint where people are conducting research from. This means that targeting areas where demand is on the rise will become much easier. Additionally, this kind of data will allow agents to get a much clearer idea of what features customers are looking for and what their expectations are.

In brief, big data represents a seismic shift in how we will make decisions. However, the data alone is not an asset but only when it is organised, processed, structured and interpreted can it add value to a business. Businesses that have access to the data and the machines capable of interpreting it stand to race ahead of the curve as we enter this new high-tech age.