World Property Markets' AI Platforms Aim to Lower Costs in Global Real Estate
World Property Markets is a subsidiary of Miami-based World Property Ventures. World Property Markets is using AI to create a platform to match global property sellers with global property buyers. The first product they will be launching is Global Listings – a 3M+ property listing aggregator for 112 countries around the world. Two more products are to follow including an AI powered search engine and a mortgage matching service.
Their digital approach can be used on the $600 trillion worldwide real estate market which includes many unorganized and costly processes to reach customers and inconsistent data worldwide. By mimicking Wall Street’s order book for digital stocks and utilizing the best matching engines for stocks, bonds and other securities the annual customer acquisition costs of $500 billion can be decreased by 20% or $100 billion for the benefit of sellers worldwide.
A related battle over listing data access is currently being waged between CRMLS, Compass, Zillow and MRED, with a number of other parties also involved. Although World Property Markets is not a party to these disputes, they will be of considerable interest to the emerging class of digital entrants in the real estate sector using AI to transform the global market place.
As noted above, real estate transactions are generally few and far between, highly location-specific and subject to many laws at the local level. Also, the underwriting of a mortgage requires strict compliance with all applicable laws as well as the criteria of individual lenders. Thus, the matching function above will not function solely on the basis of AI. Adoption by users of these Platforms, quality of data, and participation by many individual lenders of various criteria will be key.
Will these matching engines also translate into deals, and how will the platforms be monetized? Global Listings already is live on the site, but the search function for global properties and the mortgage matching service are still in the development phase.
Practical Takeaways for Buyers & Investors:
- Keep an eye on the key user adoption milestones for the World Property Markets’ AI-powered platform and share your feedback!
- Continuation of legal battles over the listings data will impact the access to the Global Listings platform as well as the competitive edge of the new players entering the space of real estate.
- Cross-border buyers should be tracking how a more integrated search function combined with mortgage functions could make buying property overseas easier.
- Sellers will save on customer acquisition costs but need to wait and see how effective the new platforms are at closing deals.
The Outsized Challenge of Digital Transformation in Real Estate
The greatest challenge of this ambitious venture lies in the very local nature of property transactions and their accompanying set of regulatory requirements, some of which may be difficult to overcome by technology, even of the AI variety.
