What Impacts does the Internet of Things have on the Real Estate Industry?

Not that long ago, being involved in the real estate industry meant a lot of running around, checking on properties and trying to catch issues before they became a serious issue.

With the advent of home automation and the Internet of Things (IoT), things have become much simpler as sensors and remote monitoring take the place of human monitoring and intervention. Here’s a quick look at some of the changes the IoT is making in the real estate industry.

Commercial and Residential Adoption

Recent trends are showing a shift from commercial IoT devices to residential IoT devices. It’s expected that this shift will take place in 2018, when residential IoT devices are expected to pass the 1 billion connected devices mark, according to a forecast by Gartner.

Though that seems like a large number, other projections on overall IoT devices are forecasting an estimated total of 30 billion IoT devices worldwide by 2020.

The drive for IoT in commercial real estate is expected to allow building owners to create a relationship with users of the building rather than just tenants. The combination of a wide range of sensors, analytics and apps provide automation of lighting systems, HVAC, parking, utilities and access or security concerns.

Looking Ahead at the Possibilities

But how much growth may be expected to continue in commercial real estate IoT? A Deloitte Center for Financial Services study projects that IoT in this area will see a compounded growth rate approaching 80% per year until 2020.

One strong trend is the integration of building management systems (BMS) with IoT technology to take a commercial building from a number of separate BMS systems, requiring significant manual intervention to receive full benefit to one that is integrated through a single central system with IoT devices, allowing automation of numerous systems, automatic analytic studies on incoming data and creating value for the commercial building owner or manager.

In addition to monitoring and adapting management responses to building conditions, IoT technology forecasts maintenance and repair needs for owners, sellers, investors, and everything in between. Sensors integrated into a building’s mechanical systems, can pick up out-of-norm conditions in the machinery.

This creates an exception in the BMS system and allows the unit to be serviced at a time of convenience for the property owner prior to the machinery failing and causing both tenant discomfort as well as expensive repairs. Sensors can be placed outside of far away investment properties in order to notify owners when inclement weather hits, letting investors tend to issues much more quickly than they might otherwise.

One hot area of IoT growth is beacon technology. At a particular location, such as a home being offered for sale, a beacon is set up which transmits to any available devices in the area. The user can then choose to interact with the beacon, such as receiving more information about a home for sale nearby.

Instead of having to wait for the potential buyer to contact the real estate agent, they can instantly interact with the beacon, rather than waiting for a returned contact. It also provides the opportunity for the real estate agent to send the prospect to their website instead of hoping they’ll be chosen in a multi-agency site. Case studies on real estate set up with beacon technology have proven that this technology increases the speed of sale.

And all of this is just the tip of the iceberg – with today’s technology, the possibilities are nearly limitless. By implementing IoT technology into your real estate business, you can make better use of your time instead of chasing after the latest crisis. At Valarm, our focus is helping you find smart solutions to your remote monitoring needs.

Note: A giant note of gratitude goes out to realtor Dylan Snyder for contacting us and writing this guest blog post. Thanks Dylan for sharing your knowledge about how various industries receive benefits, while saving time and money by integrating remote monitoring and Industrial IoT sensor systems.

Please feel free to contact us today at Info@Valarm.net for more information or to discover a whole new way to stay on top of your company.

Whether you need to monitor water, noise, air, industrial equipment, tanks, wells, or anything else, we’ll help you effectively manage your valuables.