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In the near future, an estate agent will know who will list a property on the market in an area, and at what price, because AI-driven insights products will say so, says Paul-Roux de Kock, chief analytics officer at Lightstone.
This scenario shows the almost limitless value of data is being unlocked to create strategic and operational benefits that help businesses sell more properties – and almost any other consumer product or service.
Data has become an increasingly important asset over the past twenty years, and while data sources are not always effectively commoditised, their strategic and operational value is widely recognised.
Transforming data to insights, however, is key, as idle data has little value. The more complex and uncertain the world gets, the greater the demand for crystal clear insights from data because it helps provide a more predictable roadmap through economic disruption and political turmoil.
Building data value
Aggregating customer and market data to gain competitive advantage is not new, although the process used to be slow and limited in scope and scale.
Despite this, the value of data grew with time – the more history there was, the greater the opportunity to discern trends and improve interpretation by comparing data sets from one period to another. As an example, assessing deeds data at a certain date offers only a limited view of the property market if compared to analysing deeds data over our comprehensive historical property dataset.
Data integration today
Consumer technology changed the way data is collected and stored, but more importantly, it revolutionised how different data sources – from social media and GPS location to content choices and sales information – can be integrated to create deep insights into customer behaviour that were not possible before.
Data improves operational efficiency and decision-making, and advanced AI processes and tools help our users move from merely understanding future outcomes (predictive analytics) to being recommended the most optimal course of actionto take (prescriptive analytics).
In the property space, Lightstone uses data and algorithms to predict potential sellers, helping estate agents focus on homeowners who are better prospects.
Lightstone’s Artificially Intelligent Automated Valuation Model (AiVM) helps estate agents in determining an optimal listing price.
For example, it can estimate how long a property would be on the market if it is listed 10% above our valuation model price or 10% below, so they can make informed decisions based on their client’s specific needs. The AIVM saves time and money, cutting mortgage decision time from days (when a bank sends a human valuer to conduct a physical valuation) to within an hour or two for automated valuations.
This unlocks immense operational efficiency and cost savings are passed on to the buyer. Even in physical valuations, Lightstone’s data contributes to accuracy.
All about finding a competitive edge
Gathering and leveraging data is common place today, but that’s not enough to deliver a competitive advantage anymore. The synergy of predictive analytics, prescriptive insights, and automated valuation technology reshapes the property landscape, offering informed and efficient solutions.
