Not only land registry maps and coordinates, but also a real arsenal of data gathered from public sources and commercial databases, as well as information obtained by ourselves. The addition of new and unconventional data to figures considered to be of a traditional nature is capable of providing new tools for drawing up long-term forecasts and capturing market trends. Proptech (a contraction of the words property and technology) is a top-potential opportunity for the real estate sector, which among other things can lead to a deeper understanding of the variety of factors that affect the dynamics of the real estate market.

An example of this can be found in the United States, with its increasing number of start-ups working on analyses of unconventional data such as movements in telephone cells, the number of cafés or bio shops in the neighbourhood, reviews of local restaurants or the number of reports to the police to identify patterns useful for predicting the value curve of a city area and its potential in an increasingly realistic and automated manner. Location Intelligence, meaning the ability to derive important insights for one’s business from a spatial analysis of layers of geo-referenced data, is an increasingly crucial technology that enables investors to convert geo-spatial information into strategic information. In short, a new analysis model that emerges from the progress made in artificial intelligence, exploits the use of tools such as machine learning and big data analytics and enables advanced commercial strategies to be developed.

Welcome to the future of real estate, a sector historically associated with dynamics that are hard to overcome. The human factor is still important: but straddling development departments and business models, it is possible to find niches where innovation can certainly be introduced.

An internationally traced path

Italy, too, has now begun to follow the path traced out earlier at an international level. The country is beginning to catch up, a recent study conducted by the Real Estate Center at Milan Polytechnic notes. Figures show that the pace is accelerating. The majority of the 150 innovative start-ups that are redesigning the landscape of Italy’s real estate business were formed between 2017 and 2018: an interesting sign, despite the fact that the international phenomenon actually experienced its first wave in the first decade of this century.

And one of the companies that has accepted the challenge is neprix.

The Tech division has created a series of proprietary tools that enable the detailed credit management process to be followed in an increasingly efficient manner, enhancing and organising the information set made available by the various business units through the use of advanced algorithms at every stage along the way. An activity that is fuelled on a daily basis thanks to a working group of around 40 developers, product owners, cloud engineers, software architect project managers and data and process analysts.

Starting with the acquisition, due diligence, pricing and onboarding phases and passing by way of the non-performing loan (NPL) and unlikely to pay (UTP) stages to arrive at those areas specialising in asset disposal and the sale of collateral: the ecosystem of applications ensures that end to end tracing of the life-cycle of the loan and the underlying assets can be achieved.

“One of the aspects allowing us stand out from the rest is precisely our ability to integrate, analyse and manage data arriving from the various stages of credit management (from the due diligence phase through to sales on the portals) as a means of developing predictive models that enable us to determine the best strategies for managing loans and the underlying assets” Daniele Levi, Head of Real Estate Advisory in neprix, tells us. “Hundreds of pieces of real estate information associated with each item emerge during the due diligence stage. Our work consists of managing this and cross-checking it with other geo-referenced data that arrive from the market or are of a socio-economic or demographic nature, as well as information on the loan and the asset that we gather from widespread sources along our value chain”, Daniele concludes.

In addition to real estate data, modelled on a structure that can count on over 800 valued fields for every asset managed by the group, the data model allows for the tracking of additional legal, financial and credit-based details: everything is correlated and put into a single amalgam filed with relations and inferences.

“The attention given to the simplification and automation of the process together with the constant search for salient information that lies hidden in the data and their correlation enables us to provide the customer with special value”, adds Giovanni Beltrami, Head of neprix Tech. “The data collected are constantly refined, integrated with market information and projected using analytical models that allow us to decide and direct purchase, management and value-enhancement strategies for the loan and the asset”, Giovanni concludes.

Rethink real estate

Players who have entered the market more recently today have the possibility of rethinking their processes in a creative, transverse, integrated and functional manner. While proptech may still be at an embryonic stage, the direction is clear, and the number of innovations is rising exponentially. It is therefore becoming essential for sector companies to adapt themselves and build the use of technology into their traditional business.