The evolution of the Italian real estate sector: How property and technology are merging to support smart cities

This paper examines the state-of-the-art of the Italian digital real estate sector and proposes strategies to exploit its full potential. The proptech sector was recently born as the merge of property and technology to introduce digitalization in the real estate sector. Its inception encourages both real estate products (e.g. infrastructures, buildings and equipments) and processes (e.g. design, construction, and in-use management) to move from an industrial past to a digital future. This evolution promises to support the creation of ‘smart’ cities and services for society. Due to the young age of this phenomenon, though, still little literature exists investigating the dynamics of its development, and interpreting its impacts. When thoroughly reviewing the available literature, a particular lack of information emerges for the proptech scenario in Italy, where this sector is still in its infancy. Thus, we conducted an in-depth analysis of the state-of-the-art at national level through (a) desktop search on different databases, and (b) interviews with key proptech leaders in our Country. Desktop investigations allowed to map and categorize today’s Italian proptech players, and compare this panorama with the international context. Interviews revealed the main strengths and weaknesses of the digital property business in our Country. The results of these investigations are valuable for prospect proptech startuppers, business investors, and well-established real estate actors. The set up of this research shed light on the opportunity to establish a permanent observatory of the Italian proptech realm. This eventually aims at supporting innovation in the real estate and construction environment toward the creation of smart services for our cities and society.