The year isn’t the only thing that’s changing lately. Real estate is evolving in different ways as new digital tools are empowering homebuyers while markets continue to grow and change.
Modern technology is amazing to behold, and knowing how to read the market can help net you a great home you’re excited to live in. A lot is going on in 2023, so let’s peer deeper and take a closer look.
Promising Markets
After years of steadily rising housing costs, prices have started to dip in markets where that was recently thought unthinkable. In Toronto, market activity in housing this past fall hit pre-pandemic levels and had been considerably lower in the spring and fall.
To be sure, this is partially driven by rising inflation costs that make borrowing money more expensive. Still, those looking to enter the housing market are seeing some promising signs for the first time in years.
AI Fraud Detection
We’re seeing developments in artificial intelligence, or AI, across sectors. Like any industry involving high price tags, real estate can be a magnet for fraud.
That’s why buyers and sellers will enjoy new AI tools that identify real estate fraud, helping authorities clamp down on illegal activity that raises housing costs artificially.
Before, AI relied on statistical modelling and analysis systems. Software reviewed prior cases and compared statistical relationships among many variables of data. It flagged combinations that looked suspicious. Then an internal anti-fraud unit could take further action if required.
Today’s AI uses enhanced computerized methods. Companies train the application instead of inputting statistical models. As a result, the AI processes information, receives corrections constantly, and learns from them.
Fraud detection is more robust and works more quickly than ever.
Empowered Consumers
The digital innovator Regan McGee built the platform Nobul to put power into home buyers’ hands by tilting the playing field in their favour.
Using the platform, prospective homebuyers can describe what they’re looking for in a home, and real estate agents will flood their inboxes with competitive offers of cash back and even complimentary services. Buyers can peruse the agent’s profiles and select the one whose fees, services, and experience align best.
Finally, disruptive technology is helping people find a home. As McGee put it in an interview, “We are the source of the upheaval that’s rocking this sector. Now we are finally giving customers the power they need to succeed.”
VR Makes Tours Accessible
When society closed in-person gatherings to stop COVID-19 from spreading, the importance of Zoom-like technology became self-evident. Restrictions may be gone now, but people still use this technology for many reasons.
Homebuyers in another city or country can now sit back and take a virtual tour of property located anywhere in the world. VR technology gives people an immersive way to “walk through” a legacy property, while pre-construction units can create a VR tour in their marketing to give buyers a sense of what its future will hold.
Even amid all the changes, old real estate truisms like the importance of “location, location, location” still apply. If you incorporate new digital real estate tools with old-fashioned know-how in 2023, you should get a better price on a home you love.
