Real estate technology trendsKPMG surveyed more than 60 real estate funds, property owners and operators, public REITs, and developers to gauge their use of financial-accounting software and other technology.
The following infographic showcases some of the highlights from the survey.
Property accounting general ledger systemsNo other competitor came close to being cited as often as Yardi and MRI.
Cloud
The majority of organizations leverage the cloud for hosting property accounting general ledger systems.
Market research and valuation tools*
Broker research is especially used among private real estate funds and property owners/operators.
Co-star is the most widely used across all real estate organizations. It is common for organizations to use multiple research and valuation tools.
Investor/equity allocations*
Microsoft Excel is still used broadly either alone or in conjunction with another system to calculate investor and equity allocations and for asset valuation models.
System for asset valuation models*
Yardi MRI Other
Regardless of the type of organization, respondents said they based their choice for general ledger systems on user friendliness, reporting capability, and cost effectiveness. Similar results were found for fund accounting general ledger systems.
44% 11% 45%
Excel67%
Investran5%
Excel51% 71%
Argus
62%
37%29%
14% 11% 11% 10% 10%
62%
37% 29% 29%
62%
37% 29% 29%CoStar Broker
researchReal
Capital Analytics
Public sale
records
Preqin Internal databases
LoopNet Zillow
Tax reporting* Asset management and transaction management tools More than half of the survey
respondents said that their tax services are outsourced.
Use an accounting firm's proprietary software like KPMG's Asset Management Platform
Tax services are outsourced
Other
11%52% 21% 16%
Cloud
Internally hosted on-site Outsourced
Yardi32%
Other32%RealPage11%
Argus25%
16%
Collaboration and document management*
Leasing software
Approaches to investing in PropTech*
Of the 39 respondents that indicated they use leasing software, Yardi and VTS are the two tools that stand out, followed by a mix of CoStar, MRI and other.
Real estate organizations are not using just one tool, but leveraging multiple tools and systems to collaborate. There are a number of tools that have wide acceptance.
Dropbox Share Point
Box Other
Docusign
49% 43% 33%
27%
26% 21% 14% 13% 26%
17%
Yardi
Partner with technology vendor
When asked about importance of PropTech, many organizations noted improved decision-making is most valued, followed by the ability to lower operating costs, and improve customer engagement.
Partner with real estate service provider
OtherInternal development **
VTS Other33% 33% 34%
79% 38% 33% 6%
**Small companies (less than $500 million in assets) are twice as likely as larger companies to use internal development.
Data and analyticsUsage of data & analytics techniques
No plans to use in the near term
No, but planning to use within the next 12 months
Yes
No plans to use in the near term
No, but planning to use within the next 12 months
Yes
Availability of a data lake for data and analytics
17%
29%54%
17%
27%56%
FTEs in IT department
Type of Organization (Employer of the respondent)
Organization’s gross real estate assets under management
Demographics
Most respondents have 5 to 20 full time technology employees or outsource to a 3rd party.
Less than 5 5 to 20 21 to 50 More than 50 Outsourced
19%29%
6% 11%
35%
Less than $500 million
$500 million or more to less than $1 billion
$1 billion or more to less than $5 billion
$5 billion or more to less than $10 billion
$10 billion or more
Private real estate fund
35%
Other21%
Real estate developer10%
Property owner/operator
24%
Public REIT10%
© 2019 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and the U.S. member firm of the KPMG network of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity. All rights reserved. The KPMG name and logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of KPMG International. NDPPS 875602
Customer relationship management, deal flow and contract management toolsTwenty-two percent of respondents do not use a CRM deal flow system
Microsoft Outlook
Salesforce MS Access In-house proprietary tool
Other
Investor reporting
Cybersecurity Asset management
Leasing Tax Reporting Fund accounting GL systems
40% 35% 22%
19% 17% 17%
Where will real estate companies invest intechnology over the next 18 months?*
Robotics and artificial intelligence are not on the horizon for most respondents.
In-house proprietary system
22%
53%
25%
25%
11%
21%
18%
Phil MarraNational Real Estate Funds [email protected]
Tal ReichmanManaging Director, [email protected]
Michael ValenzaSenior Manager, [email protected]
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