Crisis of the brokers
A look across the pond shows: American real estate agents are in crisis. In America, 18 % fewer housing transactions were processed in 2022. Industry experts speak of a veritable market crisis. Mike DelPrete, a profound expert on the scene, said: A rising tide may lift all boats, but a receding tide slams some boats against the shore.
According to the latest data from RealTrends, the top 20 brokerages by number of transactions in 2022 were led by eXp Realty, Anywhere, HomeServices of America, Compass and Howard Hanna. Winners by number of transactions are eXp Realty, The Real Brokerage and Fathom Holdings, losers are Anywhere Advisers, HomeServices of America and Keller Williams. As is well known, this American heavyweight also wants to come to Switzerland, as they themselves announced in October last year. But in their home market, Keller Williams is struggling, they did over 190,000 fewer transactions in 2022 than in 2021.
Brokers in Switzerland do not know crisis. The market is attractive. For example, in addition to the already mentioned Keller Williams, the German broker allmyhomes.de has announced that it is now expanding into Switzerland after Spain. Noah Schiller, formerly with ConReal, is responsible for the set-up. allmyhomes.de will not make it onto the PropTech Map Switzerland. Like Properti, I see this new player as a broker that uses digital tools. Just like more and more brokers are doing. Broker crisis: not in my backyard!
Events
Together with Switzerland Global Enterprise, we are organising a lunchtime event on 10 May 2023 for PropTechs. This workshop will give an overview of the German and Austrian markets and provide an opportunity to make valuable contacts with SBU experts. So anyone looking at expanding into the DACH region should not miss this event.
The first “digital kommunal” conference took place in The Valley. The location in the buildings of the former Maggi factory offers countless possibilities for successful events. “digital kommunal” was primarily aimed at municipalities, cities and cantons. Those responsible for structural engineering and civil engineering/works were informed by the two organisers and PropTechs immoledo.ch and laixo.ch about the possibilities of digitalising buildings and infrastructure. Information was also provided on the requirements for the digital Werkhof. Elvira Bieri presented SSREI, although the municipalities probably feel that this chalice is passing them by. Anyone who followed the explanations on the digitalisation projects of the city of Zurich could become quite envious. Money does not seem to be a problem in the largest Swiss city. in 2024, “digital kommunal” will continue.
PropTech Map Switzerland
Who still remembers the winners of the Real Estate Awards 2022? Wasn’t homedeal24.ch the winner in the marketing category? Back then I wrote critically about the development of the awards. Now I have visited the website of homedeal24.ch again. And what do I find (still): Coming soon.
Artificial intelligence
Helvetia Versicherungen uses ChatGPT for its new customer service. According to its own information, Helvetia is the first listed insurance company in the world to offer a direct customer contact service based on OpenAI’s ChatGPT technology. This is intended to answer customer questions about insurance and pensions.
OpenAI has pointed out that its ChatGPT chatbot is intended for people aged 18 and over. Only if parental permission is given, the service is also to be usable by young people aged 13 and over. OpenAI also wants to look into a verification option. So far, an email address and a mobile phone number have been sufficient. The company is reacting to reports about the use of chatbots in schools, where minors also access ChatGPT.
news aktuell and PER surveyed PR professionals in Switzerland and Germany. The most important finding: 41% do not use artificial intelligence to date. However, the majority of respondents see AI as an opportunity, especially in copywriting, topic and trend identification and media monitoring.