Is PropTech at a crossroads?
Is PropTech at a crossroads? – Survey reveals great divide among property professionals
A new industry survey from Inventory Base has uncovered a significant and growing divide in how property professionals perceive PropTech, highlighting both the sector’s transformative potential and the widespread frustration surrounding its implementation and impact.
The UK-wide survey explores current sentiment toward the wave of technology products that have emerged over the past decade, all aiming to simplify, automate, and enhance various aspects of the property industry. While the PropTech space has seen rapid growth and innovation, the findings reveal a deeply fragmented market, where enthusiasm and scepticism are equally strong.
More than half of respondents (55%) report that they never use PropTech tools, while 29% say they use them daily. This stark contrast points to an industry split between those who rely on technology as a core part of their operations, and those who have opted out entirely.
When asked how important PropTech is to their day-to-day success, 48% of professionals said it wasn’t important at all, while 25% consider it essential, a clear indicator of the polarised views across the sector, with a further 15% sitting somewhere in between, describing PropTech as ‘somewhat important’. The result is a polarised industry, with little middle ground.
This divergence is further reflected in opinions on return on investment. Over half (52%) feel PropTech tools deliver little or no value, while a fifth (19%) believe the solutions they use offer strong returns.
How PropTech Is Being Used. And Where It Falls Short
The most common use cases for PropTech include compliance tasks (16%), marketing (14%), admin functions like scheduling and invoicing (13%), and communication with colleagues or clients (13%). Despite this, half of respondents say these tools fail to meaningfully address the real challenges they face in their daily workflows.
Only 13% of professionals say PropTech is highly effective at solving common problems, while 30% view the impact as moderately successful. Almost half (48%) believe tech products could and should do a better job at solving genuine pain points.
This disconnect speaks to a broader truth: professionals don’t need more apps; they need tools that genuinely integrate into the systems they already rely on.
What’s Going Wrong? Integration, Costs, and Credibility
The biggest reported barrier to PropTech success is poor integration. Nearly a quarter (23%) of professionals say new tools don’t work seamlessly with their existing CRMs. Integration may dominate marketing claims, but in practice it is often little more than a surface-level connection.
By contrast, Inventory Base has built its reputation on deep integrations, robust links that exchange data in real time, rather than shallow APIs that simply tick a box. This ensures property professionals can manage compliance, inspections, and communication within the platforms they already trust, without duplicating effort.
Cost and return on investment remain ongoing concerns. About 22% of respondents say PropTech should be priced more competitively and/or deliver clearer financial value. Others highlight the need for better training and onboarding support (15%) and more evidence-based results and case studies (10%) to build trust and encourage adoption.
Addressing these pain points directly by offering transparent pricing, extensive onboarding, and evidence-backed ROI helps show in practice how technology reduces risk and improves efficiency.
Sián Hemming-Metcalfe, Operations Director at Inventory Base, commented:
“These candid insights from property professionals shouldn’t be ignored. When one segment of the industry is fully bought into PropTech and another dismisses it entirely, it shows that the sector is still divisive. Yet to be a force for good, technology needs to unite, not fragment, the industry.”
“The word ‘seamless’ is everywhere in PropTech marketing, but when uptake and satisfaction are so uneven, seamlessness becomes impossible. Yes, there are some incredible, transformational tools out there. But there’s also a lot of noise, too many products solving problems that don’t exist, or demanding that professionals adopt entirely new ecosystems, rather than integrating into the systems already in use.”
“After more than a decade of innovation, PropTech remains at a crossroads. Industry professionals are bombarded with new tools and ‘next big things’, creating saturation, confusion, and fatigue. As a result, the sector is now divided between those who swear by technology and those who see it as a distraction or a drain.”
“The biggest challenge now is closing that gap. Unless PropTech solutions are designed to fit into existing workflows and deliver real, measurable value, the sector will struggle to fulfil its original promise, to make life easier, more efficient, and more profitable for the people who keep the property industry moving.”
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