Kicking off tonight’s show with CoreLogic’s latest data, it’s no surprise to Oriel or Ben that Australia’s housing market continued to decline in value through July, with Melbourne in the unfortunate position of leading the way with a 1.2% drop for the month. Global ratings agency S&P hold a slightly more positive view with their prediction of a 10% peak to trough drop however, they are expecting sharper falls in Sydney and Melbourne. 

And joining to discuss how AI or machine-learning platforms are transforming the business of real estate is Angus Raine, Executive Chairman of Raine & Horne Group. Referring to the days of placing ads in newspapers and waiting for the phone to ring, “we used to call it spray and pray” he says. Agencies today however have AI at their fingertips and are using it for its profiling capabilities. “It’s so intelligent, it targets buyers for you.”

With plenty of data-backed statistics up his sleeve, Raine notes that his agency has marketed nearly 20,000 properties using their AI platform and the Raine & Horne brand has been searched over 100 million times in the last three years. “It’s an incredibly powerful bit of toolkit we have.”

On his PropTechNow segment, Shaneal introduces us to home energy efficiency tool Hubble.SH. The app helps new home-builders track at the drawing stage, how efficient the home will be on completion. As Shaneal says we should all be mindful of sustainability and what better time to check the ratings of materials and efficiency of your new home, than in the planning stage?

And finally tonight, we talk about the relatively new concept of the builder broker with Lynette Manciameli, one of the Co-Founders and Directors of Builder Finders. Working in the same way a mortgage broker would to find the most suitable mortgage for home-buyers, builder brokers work to find the right builder for a home building project. Undertaking the heavy lifting on behalf of consumers, these companies provide due diligence services to screen builders for appropriate licenses and insurance, reference checking of past and current clients, suppliers, and tradies.

Where in the past, word of mouth might have been the best referral method available to find a builder, the rigorous analysis and vetting is undertaken by companies such as Builder Finders prior to tender, takes the guesswork out of a potentially costly decision.