PropTech 2020: the future of real estate? launched at Oxford Real Estate Conference
- Oxford Saïd Business School report explores potential of property technology (PropTech)
- UK leads in European PropTech funding with over $5bn invested
- VC funding in real estate tech startups soared to $14bn in first half of 2019
- 53% of 400 major real estate companies surveyed are directly investing in at least one type of PropTech company
- PropTech industry is maturing with a fall in new startups as investment increases
- tech giants Amazon, Apple and Facebook will enter sector
- Report concludes that the most important (and investment worthy) property technologies are those which produce digital data and generate value from it.
The UK is leading the way in PropTech investment in Europe, a report from Oxford Saïd Business School has uncovered. As of June 2019 over $5bn was invested in 805 UK PropTech companies - five times more than Germany.
Investment in PropTech start-ups has been coming from several directions: traditional venture capital funds with diversified portfolios, specialist PropTech funds and accelerators. Traditional real estate companies are also diving in, with over 400 directly investing in at least one type of PropTech company.
Venture capital funding rocketed to $14bn in the first half of 2019 and has grown by over six times its 2015 amount in just two years - twice as fast as the FinTech market. The largest funds in the sector include venture capital firm Fifth Wall, who have raised a $500m PropTech fund. ‘Everyone, it seems, is looking for the next unicorn,’ stated co-author Professor Andrew Baum.