It’s almost that time of year again—multifamily budget season. And in 2023 with more technology options, suppliers, and vendors than ever before, the pressure is on to make the most out of next year’s apartment operating budget.
It’s no secret that the multifamily industry has traditionally been slow to adopt new technology. But with the recent boom in artificial intelligence, tools like ChatGPT and other AI-powered solutions have pushed the industry to become more reliant on AI, data, and automation to achieve the highest return on investment.
This sudden shift toward artificial intelligence has opened the door for multifamily solutions to pop up seemingly overnight.
With that in mind, it’s important to not only understand new property management technology and how it will help your team, but to also understand where proptech is trending to ensure you’re making the right budgeting decisions for 2024.
In this guide, we will examine multifamily industry trends to determine where priorities have shifted, look at proptech trends, how to analyze your current technology, and what to ask when researching new solutions.
First, let’s dive into the state of the industry…
Multifamily proptech budgeting trends for 2023-2024
Last year the multifamily industry saw a rise in leasing tech and CRM adoption, while conversations continued about implementing centralization with hopes of developing new processes and staffing models in 2023. But as far as actually adopting centralized staffing models, most companies are still in the planning phase according to the most recent 20 for 20 report.
Centralization has typically been defined as transitioning onsite leasing teams to a centralized office hub to run the property group or region from one location. But recent industry surveys show that centralization is not a ‘one size fits all’ concept. In fact, Multifamily Insiders recently polled industry professionals and asked them to define centralization. The result? A total of 89 responses and 89 different definitions.
But most agree—it’s all about improving performance and optimizing resource allocation.
The 20 for 20 report discovered companies that have begun to centralize aren’t relocating property roles to a singular location as previously suggested. Instead, some are implementing centralized technology to help their on-site teams run more efficiently, and some have transitioned property admin roles to a central location, keeping the rest of the leasing team at the property. But most have focused on process changes as opposed to physical centralization.
The industry agrees—change is necessary. But how? Technology and people, the 20 for 20 report said.
Another trend most multifamily professionals agree on is that the 2023 budget season will bring more pressure on NOI and costs come budget time.
“Technology will have to pay for itself, or it won’t get implemented. And we want to be the people who make that decision, not our owners,” one respondent said in the 20 for 20 report.
With that in mind, it’s important to reevaluate your current solutions to ensure you’re getting the most return on your investment, and research any emerging proptech trends that could help you achieve your goals.
A quick recap:
- Centralization is not being implemented as previously predicted. Many companies are experimenting with different technology, admin roles, and operation processes to reach their own version of centralization to best suit the needs of their community or property group.
- Most agree that process changes are necessary, and can be achieved with a combination of technology solutions and an efficient team in place.
- Technology solutions will be placed under a microscope to ensure maximum efficiency and ROI as budgets tighten in 2023. Signs point to all-in-one platforms reigning supreme in 2024.
Proptech trends 2023
Keeping up with trending technology is key to remaining competitive in the multifamily space. It seems as though each week a new “groundbreaking” feature or solution hits the market, making it difficult to plan a proptech strategy as the industry continues to evolve.
By understanding proptech trends as a whole, you can see patterns emerging to better predict the upcoming advancements, and if your current technology is going to keep up with trending tech.
Let’s start by defining proptech…
What is proptech?
Proptech is a shorter way to say property technology. Proptech simplifies routines and workflows in the property management and real estate industries, built specifically to optimize buying, selling, leasing, marketing, and management.
Valley National Bank, which released a comprehensive report on the Present and Future of Proptech separates the property technology market in five distinct sectors:
- Property management software (PMS): PMS platforms to help organize lease management, maintenance, building operations, and analytics.
- Construction and project management: Most of these solutions help in creating 3D floor plans and other building visuals.
- Asset utilization: This technology adds value to your property, and can include smart locks, community wifi, and other smart-home technology solutions.
- Finance and investments: These platforms can help analyze investments, process payments, and manage other financials.
- Transaction solutions: Any technology used to promote your apartment community falls into transaction solutions. This includes marketing, website design, expense management, and budget software.
While multifamily solutions are wildly diverse and can fall within any of the five categories above, we will be focusing on the two that have the greatest impact on the day-to-day operations at the property level: Property management software, and transaction solutions.
What’s trending in proptech
Let’s be real. The last few years in multifamily have been weird. We’re still seeing the ripple effect of the pandemic, the eviction moratorium, and a volatile economy—but one thing we aren’t seeing is a decline in innovation.
Despite economic uncertainties, the multifamily industry continues to push for automation and tech that will help streamline their daily operations and improve the leasing experience for everyone involved—property management teams, prospects, and residents alike.
With that in mind, here are a few proptech trends that will continue guiding technology innovation through 2023.
Demand for data:
The pandemic resulted in a massive increase in online activity, and as a result, online data has become incredibly useful for businesses to reach new customers and learn from their old ones.
By digitizing every aspect of property management, from prospect communications and resident surveys, to reviews and amenity usage, you can take advantage of a huge collection of data to make better, more informed decisions.
AI and machine learning:
So, what are you supposed to do with all of that data you’ve collected? AI and machine learning can help. Multifamily AI leasing assistants like ResMate were built to analyze and review prospect and resident data to provide actionable insights for your team.
What’s even better? As more prospects interact with your chatbot, the algorithm is constantly updating its insights to ensure that your team has updated information in real time.
All-in-one platforms:
We determined that the industry is hungry for change as onsite property teams grapple with increasing workload and high employee turnover. In addition to technology that can automate repetitive tasks, it’s also important to streamline and simplify any manual tasks left for your onsite team.
By implementing an all-in-one marketing and leasing platform you limit the number of point solutions your team needs to navigate every day, and many all-in-one platforms have simplified workflows to improve efficiency.
Continue reading our budget series and find out How to get the most out of your prop tech budget for 2024 and download a free checklist of 20 questions to ask your multifamily software provider.
