MIT & The Future of Data-Driven Real Estate Decisions

Last week Predictre’s CEO, Michael, participated in a virtual panel hosted by the “Urban Science in Practice” class within MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. He was joined by other experts in the field including representatives from the Kuehn Foundation, Gehl People, and StateBook to discuss the relationship between data and real estate.

The conversation touched first on how data can be used by various stakeholders in the real estate world. Michael discussed how Predictre empowers commercial real estate investors, lenders, developers, and brokers to make better, faster decisions. Matthew Lister demonstrated how Gehl uses data and innovative research methods to understand and foster vibrant public life at the street level. Jennifer Gilbert of the Kuehn Foundation described their work on a program to gather and process information about the supply and composition of affordable housing in Massachusetts. Calandra Cruikshank described how Statebook aids companies with site selection and economic development opportunities.

A number of questions from students and members of the department focused on the evolving future relationship between data and real estate. The most poignant and timely question was:

How will coronavirus impact the relationship between real estate and data and decision-making going forward?

Predictre believe that the current crisis underscores two key trends in data-driven real estate decisions:

First, commercial real estate teams can only make effective, efficient decisions if all of their information is instantly accessible from one location — no more rummaging around for information across a scattered set of spreadsheets, PDFs, and emails.

Second, once teams have a consolidated, authoritative source of information, they need collaborative tools to access and update this information, whether they’re sitting in the same room or halfway across the world.

A big thank you to Professor Andres Sevtsuk, TA Ben Preis, and all the attendees for providing Predictre the opportunity to speak with the next generation of leaders in the built environment!