Since the beginning of 2015, there are clear signs that big data will grow in importance in the real estate sector. There are developments, newcomers and large investors which propel the use and capabilities of data in the sector. Moreover, sophisticated data modelling and analytics are increasingly being used to support smart environmental reporting compliance and support productivity. We believe that 2016 will be the year that data analytics will have its final breakthrough in real estate.

Regarding retrieving up-to-date information and better decision making, some commercial real estate parties are already using number crunching from public and private data sources. Big data platforms are capable of processing large public and licensed data sources to analyze a building’s structure, building year and whether it is renovated recently, as well as the financial status of the owner and occupier. These kind of concepts create transparency to the Dutch real estate market.

Fundamental changes in corporate thinking

However, big data causes not only major changes in the real estate transactions market, it will also have a major impact in the user market. Pressure to measure performance is constantly growing. Gathering big data such as non-financial metrics will lead to fundamental changes in corporate thinking about the impact of real estate. But gathering the right data is not easy, and even harder is making effective use of it to support strategic decision making. Emerging trends such as corporate social responsibility and minimum efficiency standards are placing increasing pressure on investors and owners of commercial real estate to gather more data. This will lead to an integration of non-financial metrics into companies’ building practices to demonstrate organizational performance more comprehensively.

The rise of connected buildings

A huge development in this field is the rise of connected buildings. These smart buildings have sensors to measure aspects such as air quality and energy consumption through the whole building. This gives office users and owners better insight into the current use of the building. Besides the physical aspects, it can also give insight into where employees are and use of space. In this relatively new area of measurement, collecting and understanding data that relates organizational outcomes back to physical features of buildings, and more importantly acting on this information will put companies at an advantage.
As stated, it seems that big data is working on an inexorable rise. Both leading commercial real estate companies as leading corporations are already using big data in real estate; in 2016 it will move further into mainstream.

For more information contact Quant ICT Group, www.quant-ict.nl, email glenda@quant-ict.nl, tel:+31 88-0882500
Source: Deloitte