Why would young people want to work in proptech?

Over a lifetime the average person in the western world will spend about 90,000 hours at work. This is 3,750 full days or just over 10 years. Considering just the amount of time we dedicate to our work it is clear that it plays an essential role in our lives. When we add the social and economic aspects, it is safe to say that building a career is so important that it is not something we should compromise on. It is something that my generation of workers – the so-called “millennials” – feel particularly strongly about. Often labelled as irresponsible, immature and spoilt, the truth is that we are the product of the very privileged environment we grew in. We were exposed to technology from a very early age, we’ve always had easy access to an unlimited supply of information, and most importantly we can afford to be picky about what we spend most of our time on. So what drives a millennial when choosing a career path? Where does a traditional industry like property stack against other fields young people have to choose from? How does it remain relevant and attract talent? Could proptech be the answer? To me personally, there are three essential traits to any job that make it attractive: ■ Opportunity – to do something meaningful, to learn something new and develop as a professional and to be recognised and rewarded for it. Making a difference through my work for myself and those around me is by far the top consideration I have when choosing a workplace. ■  A challenge – an achievement wouldn’t be satisfying if it came easy, so any potential job needs to have a degree of ‘can it actually be done?’ to it. ■  The “wow” factor – there needs to be an element of excitement, a unique feature that I can’t find anywhere else. Proptech addresses all three areas: ■ The opportunity – where do I begin! Proptech addresses the world’s largest asset class representing $217tn (£180tn) in value according to Savills. The potential impact of doing even something small in this space would be huge. For example, WeWork operates only 2.6 of the 300m sq ft of office space in London or less than 1% according to the Financial Times, yet the impact it has had on working culture and the shift it is driving in commercial real estate is impressive. ■ The challenge – property is something we are all familiar with, we use on a daily basis, it is tangible and easy to relate to. At the same time, it has its plethora of intricacies and one can easily spend decades learning about the inner workings of the industry. Property is also one of the last remaining fields to embrace technology, opening up countless opportunities to innovate and introduce 21st century tools to reimagine how business is done. One particular area where technology is the obvious answer to better business performance is the way we accumulate, process and access data. Companies like LandInsight and VTS have democratised data access and insights through technology to improve the quality of information and as a result increase speed and reduce risk. ■  The ‘wow’ factor – to me this is the opportunity to build the world we want to live in, literally and figuratively. It is no secret that young people’s relationship to property is very different to that of previous generations. The combination of lower affordability and the priority shift from ‘owning’ to ‘experiencing’ means my generation is buying homes more rarely than that of our parents. At the same time property remains one of the best ways to accumulate and secure wealth. This clearly creates the demand for new mechanisms to access the property market, that provides this ideal combination of flexibility and stability. As part of Pi Labs’ seventh cohort, I was lucky enough to work with two impressive teams aiming to democratise property ownership. GroupLadder and RenterBuyer both address the challenging environment for first-time buyers allowing young people and people with flexible professions to get actively involved in the property market. The advantages of innovation in property are clear when considered through this lens, making proptech a very exciting field to be in. The fact that it is still in its infancy compared to other verticals also makes for the perfect time to get involved. However, on the outside it appears that the industry still remains largely sceptical of technology, painting an image of an exclusive club that doesn’t welcome the different attitude to work that millennials have. Considering the fact that people born between 1980 and 2000 will make up 50% of the workforce within the next five years and 75% in the next 10 years this is a crucial time to address this and openly demonstrate that there is willingness to embrace the new, and take full advantage of what technology has to offer.