REAL ESTATE TECHNOLOGY PERSPECTIVES THAT COUNT

RET Ventures recently welcomed its network of multifamily, single-family rental (SFR) and real estate technology leaders to Park City for the seventh annual RET Summit. The event once again brought together investors, operators and entrepreneurs for three days of discussion and insight into the technologies revolutionizing the real estate industry.

This year’s conversation underscored just how quickly innovation is accelerating across the sector. From the expanding role of artificial intelligence to new approaches in centralization, data integration and resident experience, the pace of change is only increasing, and the collective RET network is playing a central role in driving this transformation. The Summit offered a unique forum for operators to share operational perspectives, and for startups to showcase how they are solving the industry’s most common challenges.

As always, the Summit highlighted the power of collaboration – demonstrating how insight from leading owners and operators can translate to industry-wide progress. We look forward to continuing this momentum in the year ahead as we work with our investors and portfolio companies to shape the future of real estate technology.

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We asked a few CEOs from our startups to share their outlook on the real estate technology industry in 2025. Here’s what they had to say:

2025: The Year of PropTech Maturation — Roman Pedan, Founder and CEO of Kasa 

“2024 was about “survive ‘til ‘25”— but now, PropTech startups that battle-tested through four years of volatility will emerge stronger than ever. These survivors have proven their worth, delivering tangible value despite market headwinds. In 2025, we expect many PropTech players to shift from 'startup' to 'proven', gaining trust from real estate institutions and driving real results for investors.”

Centralization Is Table Stakes — Tyler Christiansen, CEO at Funnel

“In 2025, centralization isn't just a competitive edge — it's the cost of entry. Property managers (especially third parties) are under pressure to drive efficiency and consistency across diverse portfolios — and centralization is how they're doing it. With the right tech and strategy, owners and managers are centralizing core functions, increasing margins, and providing differentiation of their services through this new operating model."

Technology Solutions for Operational Inefficiencies in High Demand — Bobbi Steward, CEO and Founder at Revyse

“Technology that unifies operational data and financial forecasting will be coveted. We see a growing appetite for platforms that integrate contracts, budgets, and spend forecasting in one place – helping operators make faster, smarter decisions amid uncertain market conditions."

Data-Driven Operational Decisions Take Center Stage — Elik Jaeger, CEO at SuiteSpot

“Data will become the multifamily industry's universal language. Winners will seamlessly integrate AI into workflows while centralizing fragmented operations – driving both cost savings and resident satisfaction.”

Placing Owners in the Driver’s Seat with Smarter Tools — Rowland Hobbs, CEO and Co-Founder at Stake

“With flat rent growth in many markets predicted in 2025 and increasing regulatory pressure, more managers will decrease reliance on large revenue management players. Advancements in AI, the cloud and a focus on resident behavioral changes are making it easier to develop in-house solutions.”

Improving Renter Ease with 'All in One' Solutions — Brandon Tobman, CEO of Get Covered

"As owners and operators are looking for a more streamlined experience for their renters, financial products are going to be a driving factor. Residents don't want five logins for five different products. The future will be a unified solution that offers all of the products in a simple workflow to drive higher adoption."

The End of an Era for Extend and Pretend — Georgianna W. Oliver, Founder and CEO of Tour24

“Pretend and extend is over. Rather than waiting for the interest rate environment to improve, company leaders are actively looking to streamline operations, boost efficiencies and eliminate activities that are distracting from their core business.”

2024 brought volatility to the property technology sector, particularly as economic uncertainty continued to weigh on the market and stall activity. Despite some areas of the industry facing the brunt of these challenges, we also saw a slight uptick in venture investment and the continued growth of several emerging technologies, all of which we suspect will drive the industry forward in the years to come.

While market uncertainty persists, RET remains optimistic on the market’s future performance and expects to see these key trends take flight in 2025: 

Venture Capital’s Poised to Bounce Back

• While venture capital investment faced extremely slow activity in 2023, the Federal Reserve’s September interest rate cuts helped improve investment activity in 2024. With interest rates having declined and now holding steady — providing access to cheaper capital — and the real estate and tech industries beginning to stabilize, we anticipate this trend will continue in 2025.

From A Tight IPO Market and Tightening Liquidity Emerges Opportunity for PE

• Private equity continues to have a record amount of dry powder (~$1 trillion). As today’s market faces a narrow IPO market and shrinking liquidity, private equity firms sitting on abundant cash will fill in the gaps — providing capital to high-quality investments.
• Specifically, early-stage investors will be better insulated from pricing pressures — as they benefit from low entry prices — while conversely, later-stage will be more exposed to down rounds and discount pricing.

AI to Continue Astronomic Rise in Real Estate Tech

• AI is ubiquitous, permeating nearly every industry, and has long been a dominant trend within the real estate technology space. Capable of performing various operational tasks from managing resident experience to anticipating maintenance needs, AI’s impact is expected to grow significantly.
• As the AI market becomes more crowded, however, low-value, shallow solutions that lack strong ROI will see pushback. AI solutions that rise above will be those that provide a clear operational return to owners.

From Point Solutions to Integrated Platforms

• In today’s market, owners are prioritizing mission-critical software infrastructure (i.e. shifting away from point solutions to focus on integrations) that provide seamless onboarding and immediate operational benefits.

Construction Tech will Pick Up Steam

• Over the last several years, the construction industry has faced significant labor inefficiencies. In the face of these challenges comes an opportunity for emerging construction technology solutions, specifically, those geared toward improving efficiency and centralizing project management.
• As the industry continues to struggle to make real estate development deals profitable, centralized solutions that can reduce waste will be high in demand among developers in the year ahead.

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Real estate technology has faced some growing pains of late, but these challenges also highlight the sector’s potential for continued evolution and innovation. While the struggles of a few high-profile startups have sparked questions, many sub-categories of real estate tech remain strong, and are helping reshape the industry in meaningful ways. These include:

Resident Self-service

• What it is: Tech that empowers residents. Self-service technologies eliminate friction points associated with leasing, WiFi setup, utility setup, etc., by bypassing middlemen and putting residents in the driver’s seat.  
• Why it’s hot: Self-service helps both owners and residents, especially in a post-COVID world where flexibility is king.
• Case Study: Tour24 allows owners to create a curated self-guided tour experience. This lets residents conduct tours at their convenience – including after hours and on weekends and holidays.
  • It gives owners insights into how tours are performing, enhancing the leasing process while centralizing operations.
  • Tour24’s software revenue has grown 75% YoY.

Sustainability

• What it is: Technology that helps monitor and optimize building resource efficiency, which can often lower electricity, heating, water, and waste bills.
• Why it’s hot: Operators are pursuing efficiencies in every aspect of their operations. That extends to resource efficiency. Many ESG technologies present major cost-saving opportunities, yielding a strong ROI.
• Case Study: Parity is a remote HVAC optimization and service company for multifamily and hospitality. It manages the daily performance of HVAC systems by automatically optimizing control adjustments in real-time.
  • By limiting energy waste across properties, Parity improves building efficiency and guarantees savings back to owners with payback as little as 2 years.
  • Parity successfully closed a $20M Series B this past July to support market expansion efforts.

Artificial Intelligence

• What it is: Tech that utilizes generative AI and machine learning across a wide range of different applications
• Why it’s hot: The AI trend is here to stay, and these tools are poised to make a tremendous impact on operations — from resident communications to market analysis to back-office work.
• Case Study: PredictAP, a machine-learning-enabled invoice ingestion and coding solution for real estate accounts payable, leverages AI and historical invoice data to code new invoices more accurately and efficiently.
  • The platform reduces the time needed to process each invoice by 80-90%.
  • PredictAP has grown recognized revenue 250% YoY.

As venture investors, we’re obsessed with figuring out which companies will be the bright spots in the next few years. Typically, the perfect startup blends innovation and functionality, which for us means high-potential startups that meet the needs of our strategic investors. We favor companies with:

Easy Owner Implementation

• Cost savings are paramount. Owners are deterred from adopting technology with high upfront costs or lengthy onboarding that requires reconfiguration of their tech stack.
• We favor solutions that are no- or low-cost for the owner, both in terms of pricing and the load internal teams have to take on.
• In the RET Ecosystem: GetCovered, an insurtech company that streamlines the purchase and tracking of property and casualty insurance, has a free-to-owner model – and it's working.
  • Not only does the product provide a valuable service, it incurs no costs for owners — in fact, it gives them a new revenue stream. It also takes less than one day to deploy.

Seamless Integration into Existing Workflows

• Inertia is real - operators do not like to change how internal teams execute daily tasks. They want tools that fit seamlessly into existing workflows while providing superior outcomes
• Startups that minimize the disruption of existing workflows and create new efficiencies consistently outperform more disruptive solutions.
• In the RET Ecosystem:
  • Falkbuilt leverages tech to make prefab interior walls offsite. The company intentionally aligns with conventional construction methods, making installation intuitive and seamless for trade workers on site. Falkbuilt also virtually eliminates on-site waste, making it easier for boots-on-the-ground teams to complete their jobs.
  • Turno connects with short-term rental calendars to automatically schedule and delegate cleaning services. It works alongside Airbnb and other rental sites without altering the posting or booking process, saving hosts time by removing the hassle of coordinating with cleaners directly.

Clear ROI

• In theory, most people like radical new technologies with revolutionary potential.
• But in an uncertain economy, owners favor tech that provides demonstrable ROI. Products with obvious returns – cost cutting, time savings, new revenue streams – naturally experience more success at this stage in the cycle.
• In the RET Ecosystem: GiGstreem installs and operates ubiquitously available WiFi in multifamily buildings and semi-public infrastructure to allow ease of access, lower costs, and better performance. The company helps generate additional revenue for multifamily owners while streamlining WiFi set-up and service for residents.
  • Owners are realizing an uplift in NOI per unit of $20-$40 with returns on capital invested north of 20%.

The multifamily space has seen a surge of technology tools in recent years, each of which has promised to reshape the industry. For many owners and operators, identifying the right solutions and securing buy-in for portfolio-wide deployments from dozens of onsite teams can be difficult to navigate.

During RET Ventures’ second annual “Multifamily Kickoff Summit” at the Blueprint event in Las Vegas, RET Senior Advisor Shawn Mahoney moderated a panel entitled “From Concept to Reality: Operationalizing Innovation in Apartment Properties,” featuring panelists Saharsh Chordia, Director, Strategy and Analytics at Cortland; Rowland Hobbs, CEO and Co-founder of Stake; and Brandon Tobman, CEO and Founder of GetCovered.

Panelists emphasized the transformative power of data in property management, highlighting its role in boosting efficiency, improving the renter experience and reducing onsite staff workloads. They also addressed the importance of a nimble tech rollout strategy, stressing that while pilots can offer a valuable opportunity for learning and innovation, they must be done thoughtfully to avoid frustration and resource strain for owners. The panel also stressed the importance of integration between different technologies and encouraged startups to position themselves as true partners for multifamily owners and operators.

The session concluded with the panelists highlighting key factors for successful technology implementations, including open communication, ongoing optimization post-rollout and a strong focus on efficiency. Attendees left the session with actionable insights into leveraging innovation to drive measurable results in multifamily operations.

Watch the full session below: