Breaking Property News – 16/05/24
Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.
PriceHubble powers Mitsubishi Estate’s newly launched real-time generative AI property consultant
Zurich/Tokyo, May 16, 2024 – PriceHubble, Europe’s leader in property data solutions for finance and real estate, is powering an innovative generative AI solution launched in beta version on the Japanese market by Mitsubishi Estate, Japan’s leading real estate developer.
Mitsubishi Estate recently announced the beta version of a novel solution on the Japanese market — a real-time generative AI property consultant powered by PriceHubble’s property data solutions. Leveraging property valuations, visualization technologies and artificial intelligence, the service, already available in beta version, delivers detailed property insights in a chat format.
This service provides transparency on residential real estate value in a rather opaque environment, enabling Mitsubishi Estate to deliver a premium customer experience. It provides customers with comprehensive information that includes price valuation, a rating for the location, a price heatmap of the area, price trends among surrounding properties, and insights into the property’s features, all presented in a conversational format. Thanks to generative AI, it enables customers to ask questions and get more details as if they were speaking to an advisor.
Hideki Tanaka, Managing Director of PriceHubble Japan, expressed his enthusiasm about the project, stating, “We’re thrilled to power a service that not only redefines the client experience but also reflects the core of PriceHubble Group’s identity, with AI and innovation at its very heart. Our role in this project mirrors our vision for the future of generative AI and property technology, as we actively drive the next wave of innovations in the field.”
Aoi Himoto, the project leader at Mitsubishi Estate, shared her perspective on this project, stating, “At Mitsubishi Estate, we are dedicated to delivering exceptional customer experiences. PriceHubble’s solutions align with our vision, and together, we aim to provide an unprecedented level of insight and engagement in the Japanese real estate industry.”
Through this project, both companies strive to offer an innovative service that combines cutting-edge technology with a personalized, human-like approach to property valuation and insights. The solution, currently available in beta version, will be further developed and likely made available to more clients in the future.
Verona Frankish CEO of YOPA – feels that being mediocre is something to shout about
Verona Frankish CEO of YOPA recently opined that her company four months into April was out performing many other agents as it had listed 4,318 instructions. On Linkedin she stated, “The reason I wanted to share this data is in recognition of the 160 Yopa Agents across the country, and their teams, who are consistently delivering for their customers. We have made much progress as a business, yet we have so much more to achieve, but it’s really important that we acknowledge the wins along the way.”
Here are my thoughts, Purple Bricks which was acquired for £1, was for some years by volume the biggest lister of property in the UK, at its height listing 80,000 properties a year (6,666 a month), so on that market valuation YOPA is worth around 5p year to date.
If YOPA a ‘national’ brand is listing just 200 + properties a week having burnt through tens of millions, my advice close the YOPA door and use investors cash on a better vanity project.
Maybe pour it into AI, which would be a better return, look at what proptech founders like Johnny Morris at Fifth Dimension AI is up to – now that is a venture worth backing – and he is not one of my clients – but he and his co-founder are doing something of high value and high return for the real estate industry – so a mediocre result, and listing at the moment is not the problem – selling is.
Also doing the maths, 160 agents list 4,318 properties in 16 weeks, which means each YOPA agent lists just 2.7 properties a week – so about 12 properties a month which is the national average for the industry.
Metrics funny things you can use them in any way you want, but the best metric to a business is the profit and loss one, and YOPA loses multi-millions every year, if they traded without being propped up by investors cash they would have ceased trading many years ago.
Which begs the question why do the investors continue to pile the cash in – hubris, lack of an exit strategy, if I received a deck that outlined the YOPA business model today, it would never have got investment, it belongs to the golden age where cash was cheap and badly thought out ideas were given merit due to the people who dreamed them up. In 2024 property technology is making quantum leaps, but with useful tech and driving real innovation delivering quantifiable ROI.
Let’s face it 100K of properties complete each month in the UK, where is the burning need for a YOPA or a Purplebricks in that picture? Is the public crying out for this particular service, and even if they did, why can a traditional agent run a profitable business and the costs to run YOPA etc always ends the same way – a pile of debt and closure or a change of ownership followed by the same cycle.
The only winners are those in the c-suite taking large salaries whilst presiding over failing companies, if salary was linked to performance they would be paying the investors – an interesting suggestion. It might get some very different results.
Andrew Stanton Executive Editor – moving property and proptech forward. PropTech-X
You May Also Enjoy
2026 Will Test BTR’s Potential and Government’s Resolve
December Cash Buyers on the Decline
Breaking Property News 10/12/25
Rental demand drops to six-year low
Christmas move-in rush drives short-term rental spikes
