Thursday 18 March – ACBC Vic hosted a Hybrid Property Forum exploring the burgeoning proptech sector with our industry expert speakers Kylie Davis (Proptech Association Australia), Jonathan Hannam (Taronga Group), Kenny Lee (STAX), Tony Shen (YepHome) and moderated by Ben McMahon (ACBC Vic & McMahon Property Group).
Combining well-missed in-person networking with the accessibility benefits of livestreaming, our inaugural Hybrid Forum attracted a combined audience of over 2,000 viewers across 4 distinct platforms.
We would like to extend a warm thanks to STAX for hosting our event along with facilitating livestreaming capabilities and to ACBC Vic branch Partner Auspacific Property Group for assisting in organising this important event.
PropTech refers to the traditional real-estate industry utilising technology to improve entire processes of construction and purchasing. With the development of PropTech, the rigidity of the property industry is being fundamentally changed.
A content-heavy discussion, we hope this event provided valuable insights to our listeners engaged in the sector and opened the door to continued discussion.
Watch a recording of this event on the ACBC Insights Centre here.
To view or download photos from the event click here.
Some key takeaways from the event:
Kylie Davis – Proptech Association Australia
Jonathan Hannam- Taronga Group
Kenny Lee – STAX
Tony Shen – YepHome
Key takeaways from panel discussion
· Tony, how is YepHome’s platform going to change a buyer’s life and a developer’s life?
o In the future, people will be able to automatically login or sign into our platform because the platform can remember your previous setting ie. your preferences, your budget and your location. The system will automatically send messages which match to customers’ need to customers’ email.
· How does YepHome’s platform compare with the two main competitors and what’s available at the moment?
o Compared with realesate.com.au, we can go much deeper in this industry. We will launch a virtual display room online soon.
o Our platform is more user-friendly and users do not need to wait for response. Combining human services and online 24h auto-responders based on machine learning allows the response process to be quick.
· Kylie, for the average property investor, average developer, and average property consultant, what’s your recommendation for the first step in terms of jumping into the property scene and adopting innovation?
o The worst thing you can do is try and understand everything that’s out there and make a decision. The thing that you need to do, and it sounds counterintuitive, is don’t think about tech. Think about customers and pain points that your staff have in delivering an amazing experience to those customers. When you locate the problems you need to solve, you can then access the technology and decide what’s going to fix those problems easiest. When you go to the human side of the whole things and look at customers’ experiences, it starts to become simpler.
o When thinking about pain points, ask yourself where you get the most complaints and where you get feedback from your staff.
· Jonathan, why do you think particularly in Australia, we’ve been slow to adopt PropTech and how does it compare to China and other countries that are leading the property scene?
o Australia has a sophisticated market with heavy regulation on construction. The actual process is already there, which isn’t designed to allow for agile businesses that are moving to resolve issues as they arise. It requires an organisation to start thinking differently.
o Clarifying pain points and consumers’ needs is complex from executive level, management level to business level.
o Currently, major developers in the world are putting a large amount capital in this industry and it will filter down.
· Kenny, what are you seeing in the blockchain and the financing area and how is it helping to solve pain points occurring in property industry? What strategies can solve issues with developers and investment regulation?
o Regulatory bodies and the government need to pay attention to tech like blockchain in property transaction. Blockchain is a decentralised way of transacting money without a third party meaning the government loses out. There will be some big hurdles to overcome in the next few years.
o D5 is a key part in financing because it can replace banks. Customers need to concern how to change and tokenize real assets and get security onto the blockchain and release liquidity from it.
Key takeaways compiled by Qing Wang, ACBC Vic Intern