Preview the Future of PropTech

March 11, 2016

The future of PropTech, will actually be the part of the future of FinTech. A number of high level technologies, have swiftly come about that will cause this transition in these opposing but similar technology industries.

Currently data and contracts are separate. Perhaps your property software merges data into pre-made templates, for example to produce a tenancy agreement, this is not what I mean.

Imagine a digital agreement that is not only binding like the real-life counterpart, but it is also its own enforcer of those terms.

For example a pre-sales agreement made between the Vendor and a Purchaser of a property. Within this agreement, it states both parties to pay a deposit to an Estate Agent, and on completion of the sale, the deposits returned.

Currently this type of agreement requires a manual enforcer and trust in the Estate Agent’s processes.

This will change with Blockchain technology, a decentralized verifiable ledger that can handle things like currencies, assets and rules. A good example is Ethereum, a basic blockchain level coding tool, that allows programmable contracts. Allowing logic and rules to tie into real-life finances and investments, in a reliable and trust-less manner.

Now back to the example, how does a contract become self enforceable.

If we built this sales contract on a blockchain, we could store value in the Cloud. Effectively connecting say a payment API to receive the funds and a payment API to pay out the deposits. We could then link the contract to the Land Registry API, as the trusted source of the approval, which could trigger the rule to pay back the deposits.

We could go further and add time limit clauses, that if a sale is not completed by such a date, then both deposits pay out to a certain party automatically.

Understanding this, you may see that the future of PropTech will be also the future of FinTech, as we merge Assets, Money into programmable agreements.

Do you agree?

What else do you think the future of PropTech will hold?

You May Also Enjoy

Breaking News

Brexit housing market winners and losers

England can’t keep pace with the other home nations And the south of England falls well behind the north   The latest research from Yopa has revealed a stark regional divide in house price growth since the Brexit referendum (June 23rd 2016), with Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and northern England recording some of the strongest…
Read More →
Breaking News

The Rental Market is Rebalancing

But 78% of Tenants Still Can’t Find What They’re Looking For Nine in ten landlords believe the balance of power in the rental market has shifted in favour of tenants over the last two years – yet a quarter of tenants still feel landlords hold the upper hand, according to new research from LRG. The…
Read More →
Letting Agent Talk

Dispelling the top five biggest letting agent myths

Sophie Danes, Group Director of Property Management, Lomond   This year has seen the introduction of the seismic Renters’ Rights Act (RRA) as well as other changes affecting the private rented sector (PRS) coming into force, such as the rollout of Making Tax Digital (MTD). As a result, more than ever before, there is a lot of information and speculation surrounding the sector making…
Read More →
Breaking News

A fifth of Gen Z would move 25 miles or more for affordable housing

Price is the top priority listed by Gen Z for finding a home (24 per cent), with location the aspect most compromised for affordability (21 per cent) Barclays Mortgage data shows the average deposit fell -16.4 per cent year-on-year in May, however it remains the top barrier to homeownership reported by renters Nine in 10…
Read More →
AI in estate agency letting agency property
Breaking News

Can AI-powered search platform push out Rightmove for renters?

Boss of global architecture firm takes on Rightmove with AI-powered search platform where renters describe where they want to live An AI-powered start-up launched by the former boss of a major architecture business wants to disrupt the duopoly of Rightmove and Zoopla by enabling renters to find homes by using normal everyday language – as…
Read More →
Breaking News

Midlands sees largest property management fees increase

The latest research from Rushbrook & Rathbone has found that property management fees in the Midlands have increased by an estimated 53.9% over the past decade, the fastest rate of growth across England’s regions, highlighting a widening divide in costs between the North, Midlands, and South. The research analysed average rental values across England’s regions…
Read More →