The bursting of the 2008 housing bubble created an opportunity for hedge funds and other investors to purchase residential properties at discounted prices. These included single-family homes, foreclosed lots, and newly constructed buildings. The end game was to rent out these properties. Unfortunately, they soon discovered that there were a number of issues associated with this endeavor. Among them were long periods of vacancy, bad tenants who failed to pay rent or caused damage to property, legal fees incurred in disputes over tenancy agreements, property taxes, insurance premiums, property management fees to name a few.

2010 marked a major turning point for the real estate industry, with the emergence of Property Technology better known as “Proptech”. This technology promised to revolutionize the rental process by providing greater efficiency. After thirteen years, it is clear that “Proptech” has had an immense impact on the industry – although not always for the better. There have been reports of algorithms being used to discriminate against tenants and even raise rent prices without justification.

Introducing new technology into industries is a delicate process; while it can bring increased productivity, there are also potential issues such as bias and exclusion from access to products, services and chances. Therefore, it is essential to find a way of maintaining the human element in order to ensure these problems do not occur while still keeping efficiency levels high.