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We’ve seen phenomenal innovation across Australian proptech in recent years.
Brilliant products. Smart founders. Ambitious investors. But if we’re being honest, what we’ve built so far isn’t an ecosystem; it’s a patchwork.
A patchwork of CRMs, PM systems, analytics dashboards, and niche apps, all competing for space in the same agent workflow. They’re also all claiming to be “integrated,” yet most still sit in isolation.
For all the talk of interoperability, our industry remains fragmented. APIs exist, but they’re often expensive, inconsistent, or built around proprietary advantage rather than shared value.
The result? Agents and business owners are the ones paying for duplicated effort, inconsistent data, and friction-filled workflows.
Let’s be honest about integration
Integration isn’t a badge of honour; it’s a responsibility.
When only a handful of companies control the data pipes, everyone else pays the tolls.
And when integrations are structured as commercial partnerships instead of open collaboration, the result is a gated community rather than a thriving ecosystem.
The opportunity now is to rethink how we approach connection. Instead of proprietary APIs and one-way data flows, we need transparent frameworks that create shared value where the agent, the vendor and the end user all benefit.
Proptech will only evolve if we move from competing on control to competing on insight.
Proptech doesn’t need to apologise for commercialising data; it needs to start partnering with the people who create it
Every one of us in proptech knows the truth: the raw data that fuels our products comes from the real estate industry itself. Agents, property managers, and offices are the originators.
Yet for decades, the flow of value has been one-way. Data is collected at the front line, aggregated by suppliers, enhanced with third-party layers, and sold back to the same industry that produced it.
The justification has always been the same: “We’ve added to it, so it’s different now.”
But let’s call it what it is: value extraction without equitable return.
It’s the equivalent of drilling on someone else’s land, refining the oil, and then not paying the landowner any rent.
A smarter model: shared ownership, shared benefit
The next evolution in proptech isn’t about the next AI feature, integration layer, or dashboard. It’s about ownership and alignment.
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Ownership: Who owns the source data? Who decides where it goes and how it’s used?
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Alignment: Does the business model serve the long-term interests of the industry that feeds it?
If proptech companies want sustainable partnerships with agencies and networks, the answer must increasingly be together.
Open standards. Transparent data use. Fair commercial models.
Because data is the new oil, and we’re all standing on the same resource.
Because the future of proptech isn’t about who owns the tech; it’s about who owns the trust. And that starts with the data.
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