The definition of Internet of Things (IoT) was first introduced for supply chain management (Ashton, 2009). However, in recent years, it has been more inclusive covering other sectors like healthcare, utilities, transport, real estate as well (Gubbi et al., 2013). It became a “buzz” word and most people might have heard about the term by now. But what do people know about it? In fact, the Internet of Things is all about connection. It is the interconnection of sensing device objects to share information across platforms.

Impacts of the Internet of Things in near future

According to a report from International Data Corporation (2017), global spending for the IoT will experience a growth rate of 15.6% annually, and by 2020 it will reach $1.29 trillion. The forecast for the most valuable IoT investments in 2016 is $178 billion in manufacturing, $78 billion in transportation, and $69 billion utilities. And real estate sector is not excluded from the trend. The IoT will change the real estate industry drastically in a way we never imagine before. In the innovation age, outdated ways of real estate management are costing business owners and consumers a massive amount of money and hindering business growth. The IoT has made a significant impact on both sides.

The IoT’s smart sensors help to analyze, monitor and control such as home devices, security, elevators, parking garage, … in the property (Ibarra-Esquer et al., 2017; White, 2018). With the IoT, data is gathered and generated from every single activity. It provides the managers with data-driven insights and improves the performance. As a result, the IoT will change how buildings and cites will be managed in the near future (Rathore et al., 2016).

How does the IoT specifically affect Real Estate?

For the commercial real estate industry, the IoT aid in gathering data to optimize sale and processes. The connections from IoT with big data processing allows business owners to keep track of consumers routines and information. From there, they can offer secondary services such as home-moving, house maintenance at the point of property purchases. In another view, the IoT can offer data to help managers and owners create differentiation immediately from the development stage. Behavior data from tenants can make it easier for developers to change and adopt new construction design. Population habits can also be collected to help management companies improve living space for their residences.

In other words, the IoT has slowly become an essential part of our life, and it will change the real estate sector for the better. If business owners want to remain competitive in the industry in this innovation age, they will have to modify and adapt to the new standard.

What is your opinion of the impact of the IoT on Real Estate? Or the impact of IoT in general? Please share with us in the comment below or contact us via email contact@twentyci.asia for free consultation.

Mia Tran                          

Reference

Ashton, K. (2009). That ‘internet of things’ thing. RFID journal, 22(7), 97-114

Gubbi, J., Buyya, R., Marusic, S. and Palaniswami, M. (2013). Internet of Things (IoT): A vision, architectural elements, and future directions. Future Generation Computer Systems, 29(7), pp.1645-1660.

Ibarra-Esquer, J. E., González-Navarro, F. F., Flores-Rios, B. L., Burtseva, L., & 1, M. A.-V. (2017). Tracking the Evolution of the Internet of Things Concept Across Different Application Domains. Sensors, 17.

International Data Corporation. (2017). Worldwide Semiannual Internet of Things Spending Guide.

Rathore, M., Ahmad, A., Paul, A. and Rho, S. (2016). Urban planning and building smart cities based on the Internet of Things using Big Data analytics. Computer Networks, 101, pp.63-80.

White, M. (2018). Real Estate and the Internet of Things. [online] Realtor Magazine. Available at: http://realtormag.realtor.org/technology/feature/article/2015/03/real-estate-and-internet-things [Accessed 6 Jun. 2018].