Breaking Property News – 27/09/2023
Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.
Data specialist Sprift announced as latest founding member of Open Property Data Association
As Sprift is a client of my associated business Proptech-PR and as Proptech-X is a media partner to OPDA as well as being a supporter to the initiative and advisor to some of the committee members, I felt it necessary to make this clear before this official press release.
On a positive note, having previously worked as an estate agent for over 30-years and dealt with over 18,000 agreed sales, many that were destined never to get to exchange and completion, and having spent the last seven-years with many proptechs dealing with the difficult task of getting from sstc to exchange on an express train, it would seem that at last, though it may have taken Covid-19, the UK residential sector is actually going to allow a digital reformation with help from all stakeholders and technology partners.
PRESS RELEASE: London 27th Sept 2023. Matt Gilpin, CEO at Sprift and proptech specialist to join the Member Executive Committee at OPDA
Since OPDA was launched on 8th June 2023, some of the biggest names in the property industry have been announced as founding members. Joining their ranks, property data specialists, Sprift Technologies, is today confirmed as the latest company to join the member organisation and in doing so joins the other members who are committed to delivering open data and technology standards across the industry. Through collaboration and an innovative approach to creating a common data trust framework for all property data, OPDA is driving the improvements that the home buying and mortgage industry desperately need.
OPDA’s membership are at the heart of the discussions, initiatives, and policies that are shaping the future of property data and delivering a digital homebuying and mortgage journey. The Executive Committee members are committed to influence industry best practice and advocate for open data principles that align with its commitment to data transparency and accuracy.
Maria Harris, Chair of OPDA: “The progress we’ve made in the three short months since we launched is way beyond anything I expected. Announcing the quality and calibre of our executive committee members is testament to the desire and dedication across the industry to change the homebuying and mortgage process for the better. Sprift are one of the most comprehensive and trusted property data providers in the market so I’m delighted to have them join our group and help us drive through the adoption and digital changes we need.”
Matt Gilpin, Sprift: “I’m exceptionally pleased to be joining the OPDA Membership Executive Committee and am delighted to see this initiative being taken seriously by the industry, evidenced by the increasing adoption of these best practices around property data.
As a business, Sprift is very familiar with the benefits of Upfront Information (UFI) for both property professionals and consumers; we’ve been presenting the benefits of a detailed summary of a property’s characteristics since Sprift was founded over seven years ago and consequently, we’ve done a lot of the ‘heavy lifting’ and hard work around data aggregation and appending UPRN to make that data easily available.
Our extensive research already highlights that UFI shorten transaction times and also reduces fall through rates by 13.31%, based on our analysis of 1.2m listings across a 12-month period in 2022, so the benefits of adopting this approach as part of the residential transaction process are really clear. I’m very much looking forward to working with Maria and the other Executive Committee Members to bring about positive, real change for the benefit of the property industry and related sectors.”
WINNERS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF REAL ESTATE FUNDS AWARDS ANNOUNCED
London, 27 September 2023: The Association of Real Estate Funds – the trade body for investors in real estate, with £50bn in member assets – has announced the winners of its annual awards. Announced last night at a London ceremony hosted at the Savoy, attended by nearly 400 leading figures from the world of real estate investing, and the award winners are:
Outstanding Fund Achievement: The Patrizia Hanover Property Unit Trust. Research Award: JLL. Outstanding Individual Contribution: Melville Rodrigues, APEX. Affiliate of the Year: Carey Olsen.
The awards, sponsored by Crestbridge, seek to recognise outstanding and meritorious accomplishments across the fields of real estate investing. The judges – senior figures in a range of real estate disciplines – used a range of qualitative and quantitative criteria to select each winner.
The outstanding fund achievement focused on applicants’ transition plan to net zero carbon. Submitting firms had to demonstrate how they achieve net-zero ahead of regulation – and also how they are innovating in this space. In research, winners had to submit topical ideas, that brought new understanding to a topic, enabling the broader industry to learn.
The outstanding individual was selected for their commitment to the evolution of the industry. The affiliate of the year is an organisation that does not directly invest in real estate, but which demonstrates a significant long-term, positive contribution to the sector
Adrian Benedict is AREF’s chair comments: “Our awards have been going for 12 years – rewarding exceptional achievement in UK real estate investing. This vast sector, so vital to the national economy, has yet again thrown up some remarkable stories. For example, Patrizia’s award for outstanding fund is testament to the high-quality work they are doing to keep ahead of target on net zero. This is a crucial challenge for our industry – and of course society more broadly – and all of the submitting firms demonstrated a high level of ambition and accomplishment.”
For anyone who is unaware, The Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) is the body that represents the interests of its member funds, those firms that advise and support them, and the end customers that invest in our member funds. Its members includes over fifty funds spanning the leading real estate fund management houses in the industry, through to smaller, specialist boutiques, with a collective net asset value of over £50bn (at 31 Dec 2022).
In addition, it has more than fifty affiliate members and a number of associate members. It is recognised by policy makers, regulators, tax authorities and other official organisations as the leading spokesperson for real estate funds, so through bringing all stakeholders together we have the ability to influence the way our industry evolves.
Andrew Stanton Executive Editor – moving property and proptech forward. PropTech-X
You May Also Enjoy
Solutions to fix construction skills
Budget Commentary – Mansion Tax, Business Rates & Planning Reform
Budget 2025 market data & home-mover and agent insight
Breaking Property News 24/11/25
What does Rachel Reeves have in store for the UK property market?
