Why AI Will Not Take Over My Former Profession (Real Estates) In The UK Within The Next Decade
My Analysis of the United Kingdom’s Property Market
An Overview of the UK’s Property Market/Real Estate
The property market is a significant industry in the United Kingdom’s economy. It spreads across the manufacturing and services sectors, which contribute 17.7 percent and 71.63 percent, respectively, to the UK’s GDP as of 2021.
With the UK being a developed country, the level of activities in the real estate sector at different levels is intense. The six top contributing assets divisions (Office, Multifamily housing, Retail, Industrial, Healthcare, and Student) run in billions of GBP.
Despite the impact of Covid-19, as of June 2020, listed office real estate companies had a market capitalization of 66.6 billion euros, while multifamily housing companies’ market cap stood at 53.9 billion euros. The third leading sector was retail, with a market cap of approximately 20.5 billion euros.
An Overview of AI in the UK
Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be defined in two ways, either as a ‘term’ or as a ‘process.’ As a term, it can be defined as machines’ demonstrated bits of intelligence, as opposed to the intelligence humans and animals display, which is controlled by consciousnesses and emotions.
As a process, it can be defined as a scientific system of machine learning, understanding, and application of knowledge to create an imitation of human activities (e.g., singing, problem-solving, and performing tasks) but in a broader complexity and accuracy.
Increasingly, the letters AI are appended to businesses’ tech products in the UK. This shows that AI is already an unstoppable force in the UK society and economy.
Tech Nation reports that there are up to 1,300 AI companies in the UK. That collectively generated a turnover of up to $2bn in 2021. An approximately 600% increase in the number of firms within the last decade.
The UK government also published research at the beginning of 2021 that shows that businesses spent an estimated £62bn on AI technologies and related labour in 2020 alone.
The Government has a 10-year plan that aims to position the country as a global artificial intelligence superpower that will compete on a global scale with the US and China. Similarly, Matt Chubb, Chief Technology Officer of Razor, supports the findings of the research commissioned by the UK government which posits “By 2040 over 1.3m UK business firms will be using AI, and then, investment in AI is predicted to reach over £200bn”.
Why AI will not take over estate agents’ jobs that soon in the UK
With all the glamour of AI in businesses, different sectors are asking ‘but what does this really mean for my profession?’
For the property industry, it’s unlikely that all professionals will lose their jobs, and be completely replaced by AI. Just like most other jobs.
The most recent adoption of artificial intelligence in the past recent decades includes big data computation in businesses, and public use recognition of human speech (Russell & Norvig, 2009),Generative Pre-trained Transformer like ChatGPT, autonomous operation of automobiles, intelligence in logistic networks routing, and military defence simulations (Allen, 2020).
It is exciting that adopting AI has the potential to process multiple tasks and decisions, which enables estate agents to make accurate decisions swiftly. And we have seen that it is ideal for processing and interpreting big data, which is something the human brain isn’t naturally good at and would take a long time to complete.
The possible adoptions above will help the industry in multiple areas. Properties in the UK have many factors to track, and utilising AI can assist to keep track of everything. With AI, everything is on hand to make accurate decisions quickly.
Since AI has been successful in logistics networks, it opens up possibilities for tailoring customised packages for prospective buyers and landlords by leveraging insights from previous owners. This personalised approach can result in more appealing and enticing deals. Additionally, AI has the potential to forecast buying cycles. For instance, when a Millennial or Gen Z individual purchases a property, AI can provide predictions on the duration they might contemplate upsizing or downsizing in the future.
With this facility, agents can use target marketing drafted five, 10, or 15 years in advance, rather than the current trend, which is reactive marketing. Also, with this, a buyer could potentially be a lifetime customer since AI helped in profiting and target-marketing them appropriately.
In a nutshell, AI will be about augmenting professionals and equipping them with the tools to efficiently do their jobs and more instead of replacing them. It has the features to complete low-value and monotonous administrative tasks. That will free up agents to focus more on the aspects we humans can do best — such as building solid relationships with clients and sound customer service.
Finally, real estate is still one of the top industries that harbour extortion and money laundering in the UK — AI can potentially make the industry safer by rapidly advancing security systems and smart technologies. In fact, there are a few barriers keeping AI from being applicable to every single industry in the UK. It’s inevitable, just not as soon as we assume.
Final thoughts
Probably, in two to five decades’ time, there could be less demand to employ people to do certain tasks, more so with fewer professionals being replaced when they retire or resign.
However, AI may create more roles in other areas of the real estate profession. As AI increasingly helps humans discover what they need to process tasks quicker, easier, and more accurately — more opportunities will rise for humans to do what they are best at. Optimistically, the future is simply going to bring more of these sophisticated technologies to make our everyday lives easier and smoother.
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My fervent wish is for the personal growth of everyone and the success of all young professionals who put their hearts and souls into finding their purpose in life.
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