Making Real Estate More "Real": How More and More Companies Are Using Big Data To Clean Up The Housing Market

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The decision to purchase real estate has always relied on multiple data points: the size of the property, the neighborhood, property ownership data, historic prices and trends, etc. With the advent of big data, companies like Clear Capital are able to provide more accurate and objective data, allowing investors to make more informed decisions.

While discussing the role of data in the housing/real estate market, Kenon Chen, Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy at Clear Capital, expounded on the need for smart, usable data in the real estate and PropTech market.

Chen explained that "Like many industries, data is the lifeblood of the Housing ecosystem, which is why it is problematic that it has stayed so paper heavy. The digital mortgage movement and now the digital appraisal movement are absolutely crucial to fully harness data that leads to better decisioning and opportunity."

Seeing as real estate is such a crucial component of the global economy, it has the potential to affect people, and organizations, in a profound way. Therefore, it is the responsibility of a data steward/producer/provider to provide the most accurate and ethically sourced data to allow individuals and organizations to make well-informed, responsible decisions.

While explaining the importance of accuracy and ethical data sourcing, Chen said, "Interestingly enough, these two often go hand in hand. We think a lot about ensuring that data is collected as close to the source as possible, while leveraging technology to increase the consistency and fidelity of the data. Our recent acquisition of CubiCasa, digitized floor plans using a mobile device, affirms our belief that first hand observation of homes should be made available downstream to decision makers. And when we can't collect the data ourselves, we take great care to ensure that obtained data has the appropriate usage rights and context to reduce risk for our clients."

This type of accurate and ethical data sourcing allows companies like Clear Capital to create an ecosystem that emphasizes fairness. Historically, there has been talk of bias in real estate, such as in appraisals, projections, and utility. Chen talked about how companies are attempting to "raise the bar on what is allowed to be subjective observations, and ensure there is more science and less art. For instance, while determining price segmentation, the square footage of property (Gross Living Area) should be a fact, not an opinion. And the same measurement approach to a home in California should apply to a home in Florida. Unfortunately, today, two different appraisers visiting the same home can result in two different GLA measurements, which can have a big impact on value. The more we have consistency on the facts, the better chance we will have to solve other factors that can create bias in real estate."

As housing/real estate data continues to become more accurate and actionable, Chen is incredibly optimistic about the future of the Proptech market. "I'm very excited about the acceleration in innovation, and the way companies responded to the challenge of the pandemic. There are now more tools than ever that create a safer, more flexible set of options for real estate and finance. This trend towards virtualizing property has exciting implications for homeowners better understanding their investment and making better decisions on how to best use equity."

Speaking specifically of the regulatory environment in the US housing market, Chen explained that "the change in administration has resulted in a different approach to housing and mortgage. I view the willingness to embrace innovation and technology to solve issues such as bias, inequity and the housing ownership gap as a positive moment and historic opportunity. Even recent announcements such as the FHFA making desktop appraisals a permanent option in 2022, should show that we can take iterative steps in the right direction to improve the home buying experience."

This type of housing/real estate data is supplied by companies like Clear Capital and can be found on DataHunters - a data community for data professionals and decision makers. Data communities provide use cases, datasets and professional opinions from data experts all in one place. Find useful real estate data and learn how to use the data you have. Whether you are a data leader, involved in data analytics, or a decision maker needing to show growth, the DataHunters community is here to help you power your decision-making with the right data.

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Eli Adry, DataHunters, +1.310.933.5553, [email protected]

SOURCE DataHunters