Real estate companies are investing in artificial intelligence (AI) to explore its advantages and limitations. An age of experimentation has begun across sectors, and property is no exception. While ChatGPT and other AI services are absorbing some of the work agents would have done, freeing them to focus on building relationships and providing valuable counsel, experts say that AI is not going to replace property agents anytime soon. In Hong Kong, where over 40,000 real estate agents are operating, Marcus Chu, Singapore and Asia-Pacific CEO of Singapore-based property agency ERA, sees AI as a golden opportunity to differentiate his company and agents from the competition.
Chu noted that most agents, while they can talk very well, are not “natural born writers”. The Sales+ app can generate event invitations, personalised festive greetings, tenancy reminders, and agent biographies. All content can also be customized and translated into the language used in the country where the agent is operating, according to Chu.
Midland Realty is adopting ChatGPT to analyze market statistics and client data to predict trends and provide personal recommendations; automation of business procedures; writing letters; analyzing sales brochures; preparing sales proposals; video production; and providing question-answering chatbots. Chinachem Group plans to launch two AI-enabled applications: “A corporate version of ChatGPT to help our colleagues work efficiently and free up time for creativity, and an AI image generator to streamline the process of generating required building-design images and reducing repetitive work.”
Experts warn about the limitations and risks of the technology and urge the implementation of measures to monitor and manage legal and ethical risks while complying with data-privacy and cybersecurity rules. Regardless of AI and digitalizing traditional real estate, agents still bring value to the industry by smoothing the process for both parties. While AI is finding use in property search, public perception of what AI can do seems to be far ahead of reality. Even though the concept of checking and signing real estate sales contracts cannot be made entirely paperless, AI technology focuses on relying more on human agents for their reliability and prompt feedback to customers.
