As we all know, technology is everywhere. It is constantly improving and evolving and has made its way into every facet of our lives.

You only have to look as far as your pocket or handbag to realise the power of modern technology, our smart devices give us unlimited access that holds every piece of knowledge and information in human history giving us the answer to every question ever asked… that’s pretty incredible.

So, what is next in the tech industry and what role does it play for real estate?

We were lucky enough to speak with Nigel Dalton recently, who is the Chief Inventor at REA Group in a small team called REALABS. Nigel’s job is to look into what technology is coming in the next five to ten years and assess the impact this has on the real estate industry, customers, consumers and everyone in between.

“Technology is everywhere in the real estate industry in 2019, and it is only getting more so. Agents are contactable 24/7 and people are wanting to know that their data is being cared for as they get properties matched to them. It used to be a search game but the future, starting today is all about ‘match’,” says Nigel.

Nigel spoke to us about the exciting ways that artificial intelligence (AI) is helping to speed up property searches by using imagery and descriptions to filter through the 55,000 properties currently on realestate.com.au.

He also spoke about the possibility of having a digital sales agent appear next to property signboards using augmented reality (AR) similar to the global phenomenon ‘Pokémon Go’ and also the prospect of virtual 3D property tours using virtual reality (VR) headsets, all of which are designed to add convenience and save the consumer time.

“The most interesting thing that is going to happen in global real estate in the next 5 years is the continual growth of the people like Facebook, Google, WeChat, Amazon, Airbnb into a space that has been small and private and local. The big global platforms want a piece of this action so everyone has to become comfortable with that, they (the agencies) have to became as good as Google when it comes to searching for property, as wide reaching as Facebook and as intimate with their communities as Facebook. The good news is that the future of real estate still lies in the neighbourhood and in personal relationships built on trust. It’s all changing, but then again, not much is changing at all,” Nigel says.

To find out more about Nigel and his work at REALABS click here.