Curating a Development Through the Use of Data in a Post-Covid World

How has the pandemic influenced what potential buyers/renters are looking for in a neighbourhood and resident preferences? Can data be leveraged to quantify these shifting preferences? And given the potential insights data can offer, what does the future of proptech and AI look like for the real estate industry?

Last month, Local Logic’s Head of Industry Relations Sara Maffey sat down with Matthew Loos, host of The Placemaking Podcast, for a new episode — Curating a Development Through the Use of Data in a Post-Covid World — to answer these questions. In this episode, Sara and Matt chatted about Sara’s role at Local Logic, how the company is advancing the housing industry, and Sara’s thoughts on the future of data in real estate.

After discussing her robust career history in real estate, Sara provided insights on how Local Logic leverages over 80 billion data points per month to quantify many of a neighborhood’s typically qualitative characteristics. Diving deeper into what we can learn from this process, she highlighted some of the most impactful trends she saw emerging from data collected throughout the pandemic – including a rising preference among Canadian renters to be closer to grocery stores — which she attributed to the declining popularity of public transport combined with the closure of indoor dining.

Moving from 2020 reflections to predictions for the future, Sara shared what she expects to see regarding data’s role in real estate and the proptech industry in the coming years. Namely, that data and AI will play a bigger role in uncovering new opportunities for developers – helping them determine the truly best use of a property.

“What [we’re] seeing with a lot of proptech coming right now is the use of AI to develop a better understanding of the trends in predicting — that’s the crystal ball that real estate’s been looking for,” she said.

To hear more of Sara’s insights, listen to the full podcast episode here. And check out our blog and our Facebook page to stay up to date on the latest commentary and location insights from Local Logic.