What is #PropTech and how does it work?

What is Proptech 2021

It is not some geeky language that is shared by school leavers sat up in their bedrooms sharing special digits and codes and neither is it some high tech marketing skill that goes way above your head when presented to you (well the build of it may be complicated, but how it is presented certainly isn’t).

Proptech is the change we are seeing within our industry that are making our lives easier and much more rewarding when it comes to finding new valuations and selling / renting property in the UK. There is no challenge for Estate Agents to embrace Proptech and it is in fact more a challenge for the guys behind the Proptech brands to get in front of agencies to showcase what their products and services can do.

Proptech: Breaking the industry into smaller sectors and having the ability to drive more and more of a target audience to each of them meaning that results are better, so there is a very big tick in the ROI box.” Christopher Walkey.

The internet will never catch on was once a famous saying and since that time we have adopted it to such an extent that it is more important to some than communication channels such as radio, telephone and television. In recent years we have had the explosion of social media and being one of the first within our industry to embrace it, I know that it was never really seen as a potential marketing channel in the early days for the property industry… I believe that it is no where near where it can be just yet, so much more to come and nowadays many estate agencies spend a lot of time and their budgets on the likes of Twitter and Facebook etc.

Savills and Proptech Cities? http://www.savills.co.uk/tech-cities/index.html#intro

Innovation (Proptech) we have recently seen enter our industry now automates nearly every step of the UK property buying and selling process eliminating time wasting elements and delivering more precise results by being able to understand each and every client’s needs. How consumers are interacted with such as when, on which device and in which tone, in how much detail and what language can all be defined with advancements in PropTech. We can not (yet) eliminate the need for human driven actions within the industry, but PropTech is learning very quickly how it can deliver results in helping to work alongside people (both industry and consumer) to save valuable time, efforts and money.

You just want to acquire new valuations for your portfolio and sell / rent them out as quickly a possible right? This part of Estate Agency will never change, but Proptech is now filtering into the industry and breaking it all down into parts allowing estate agents to pick and chose the best ‘components’ to help them to drive better results and market share locally.

You may not think that Proptech is actually anything to take note of yet, but London is now seen as one of the central hubs for this new section of the industry and just like those who didn’t take note of the internet or social media, it will creep up behind you and your business will embrace it at some point so just like anything in business, as per the early bird with the worm, being first at something can prove the difference to success and failure or achieving market dominance.

Christopher Walkey

Founder of Estate Agent Networking. Internationally invited speaker on how to build online target audiences using Social Media. Writes about UK property prices, housing, politics and affordable homes.

You May Also Enjoy

Estate Agent Talk

Conservatories fall out of fashion

Conservatories fall out of fashion as fewer than one in 10 homes boast the former must-have feature   The latest market analysis from eXp UK has revealed that conservatories appear to have fallen out of favour with England’s homeowners, with fewer than one in 10 properties currently listed for sale offering the once-popular home improvement.…
Read More
Breaking News

95% of estate agents say homebuying reforms could speed up property transactions

The latest survey by GetAgent.co.uk has found overwhelming support from estate agents for the Government’s proposed homebuying reforms, with the vast majority believing the changes will create a faster, more stable and more efficient property market. The proposed reforms are designed to modernise the homebuying process by introducing greater upfront information, earlier legal certainty and measures…
Read More
Breaking News

Private rent and house prices, UK: July 2026

1. Main points Average UK monthly private rent increased by 3.3%, to £1,388, in the 12 months to June 2026 (provisional estimate); this annual growth rate remained unchanged from the 12 months to May 2026. Average rents increased to £1,446 (3.4%) in England, £843 (4.9%) in Wales, and £1,012 (1.3%) in Scotland, in the 12 months…
Read More
what is happening to house prices
Breaking News

Tenant demand continues to strengthen in Q2

The latest research by The Letting Partnership has found that tenant demand across England continued to strengthen during the second quarter of 2026, with 29.7% of all rental listings already securing a tenant. Demand has increased by 2.3% over the quarter and now sits 0.3% higher than the same time last year, demonstrating the continued…
Read More
Breaking News

Breaking Property News 22/7/26

Daily bite-sized proptech and property news in partnership with Proptech-X.     More kite flying on capping rents creates new uncertainty for investors Official data undermines rent cap folly as Burnham yo-yoing creates damaging market uncertainty More kite flying on capping rents has created new uncertainty for investors at the worst possible time. Analysis of…
Read More
Estate Agent Talk

Conveyancing keeps providing stability in uncertain market

New research from Lyons Bowe solicitors has found that conveyancing costs have remained remarkably steady as a proportion of house prices across the UK, providing essential reliability for homebuyers during another year of market and economic uncertainty. Lyons Bowe’s analysis found that the average cost of purchasing a freehold property increased from £1,383 in April 2025…
Read More