Smart, connected and dangerous: Assessing the impact of digital business on real estate

Abstract

A number of technological developments may soon transform the way the real estate business is conducted. Among these are technology-enabled marketplaces; internet-connected buildings and systems; machines that act as agents for themselves and the business; machines that learn and adapt their behaviour based on input; ownerless, distributed blockchain ledgers that determine when and how transactions can be completed; and smart contracts built on those blockchain ledgers. But this transformational power may raise new questions of data ownership, privacy, liability, ethics and even legality that organisations should consider before moving forward with implementation. A commitment to research, perhaps led by the office of the CIO but including many business stakeholders including legal counsel, careful evaluation of technologies and services, and testing in the form of limited-scope pilots are some of the keys to avoiding many problems.