Uae’s Growing Focus on Property Technology Emphasized at Proptech Middle East

H.E Marwan Bin Ghalita, CEO, Real Estate Regulatory Agency inaugurated the 2nd Annual PropTech Middle East in the presence of other VIP officials from the government and senior executives from leading real estate developers in the region, such as Sobha Group, Nakheel, Diamond Developers, Aldar Properties, Azizi Developments, and EMAAR, amongst others.

The first day of the conference covered over 10 sessions – a mix of keynote presentations, panel discussions and case study presentations from industry experts such as Angelica Krystle Donati, CEO, Donati Immobiliare Group & Venture Partner Concrete VC, Dr. Syed Mahsud Ali, Chief Information Officer, Azizi Developments, and Tarek Nizameddin, Senior Executive Director, Ejadah Asset Management Group (Dubai Properties Group), amongst others to an audience of over 300 senior real estate professionals from across the GCC region. 

The panel discussion on PropTech 3.0 was moderated by Martin Berlin, Partner & Global Deals Real Estate Leader, PwC with six other industry experts - Binoo Joseph, Chief Information Officer, EMAAR Properties; Faisal Ali, Chief Information Officer, Gargash; Richard Waind, Managing Director, Better Homes; Stefan Hickmott, CEO & Founder, Evarei Management LLC; Stephan Degenhart, Managing Director, Drees & Sommer and Vivek Agarwal, Co-founder & CTO, Square Yards. The developments within the proptech industry, trends that are foreseen in the year ahead, the use of technologies such as big data, IoT, AI in transforming the real estate industry and its challenges were just some of the points discussed during the panel discussion.

“Over the coming 10 years, we will see significant technological change in the real estate industry. Buildings will become more human with IOT and other technological improvements connecting individuals to assets. In this rapidly changing environment, the key to achieving customer satisfaction will be to keep the technology in buildings user friendly and plug and play… just like other utilities.” - Martin Berlin, Global Deals Real Estate Leader at PwC.

Ian Magwood, Director of Enterprise Software, PropSpace, Property Finder Group; Said Haider, Regional Director, Middle East Sales, YARDI; Fadi Nwilati, CEO, Kaizen Asset Management Services and Dana Awad, Executive Director, Provis delivered presentations on automated property management - for increased occupancy & maximum returns, the digital revolution of the residential market, applied examples of how proptech can maximize property value and utilizing technology to drive property service charges down respectively.

Arif Mubarak, CEO of Dubai Asset Management said, “At Dubai Asset Management we have taken keen interest in the adoption of real estate technologies to enhance the customer journey and increase efficiencies across our business operations.  PropTech has significantly improved customer engagement, whether it’s through an application to schedule property maintenance services or our paperless rental journey in partnership with Smart Dubai. As a forward-facing company, we continue to explore opportunities to adopt technology as a tool to optimise our performance, and bring further value to our customers.”

The conference ended with a panel discussion on property management moderated by Anilesh Kumar, CEO, Levtech Consulting. He was joined by Fadi Nwilati, CEO, Kaizen Asset Management Services, Fahad Mohamed, Director of Facilities Management, Deyaar, Gopakumar Pillai, Head of Property Management, DIFC Properties, Hiba Shehab, Director - Property Management, Dubai Asset Management, John Stevens, Managing Director, Asteco Property Management and Shajil Thyagarajan, Senior Director, Head of Property Management, H&H Investment and Development LLC.

This forty minute discussion explored key themes like how the property management industry has transformed over the years with the impact of technologies such as cloud, AR/VR and big data analytics in property management, along with the key trends that are set to redefine property management.

Mahmoud AlBurai, Senior Advisor, Real Estate Regulatory Agency will open day 2 of the conference. Subject specialists Karim Eljisr, Executive Director - Research & Development, Diamond Developers, Bijoy Chandrabalan, Manager – CRM & Business Apps, Levtech Consulting and Firas Al Msaddi, CEO, Fam Properties and Fatma Hashim, Associate Partner, Driven Properties will also deliver presentations on industry relevant topics.

Mr. Brad Hariharan, Regional Director, Expotrade Middle East, said, “We are honoured to have Dubai Land Department’s support and guidance. Property technology is a concept that has gained immense traction over the last couple of years in this region. In its second edition, the PropTech Middle East event covers pertinent themes related to technological innovation in the real estate sector and various companies are showcasing their innovative technological solutions that are set to revolutionize the real estate landscape and become a game changer.”