Why real estate needs a super-app

A key feature of the residential real estate market in Australia is that it is a fragmented industry.

Big business is yet to consolidate agents, auctioneers, conveyancers, pest inspectors, mortgage brokers, property stylists and removalists … just to name a few of the many professionals who are involved in residential property sales.  

Suburban real estate professionals are predominantly sole traders, franchisees and family businesses, with local knowledge and contacts highly relevant to their patch.  There are also many small-medium property developers and Mum’n’Dad landlords.  

Running your own property business is both challenging and rewarding.  But the administration can be very time-consuming, especially if you are trying to keep up using spreadsheets, emails and phone calls.  

There are many opportunities for property technology (“proptech”) to make a big difference for small property businesses.  At the same time, there is a natural hesitancy around change, including tech adoption.  This is understandable.  

Choosing the right proptech for your business is an important decision because unless the tech is effectively adopted by your team, you won’t reap the benefits.  

“Small property businesses need a high degree of confidence before onboarding any new technology.  Sadly, if the software wasn’t designed specifically for real estate, or if it can only do one or two things, it can end up being an expensive mistake,” says Walton Chu, Founder & CEO of Teamlink.  “That’s why real estate needs a super-app.”

A super-app is a software application – usually on mobile and also on web – that provides multiple services in the same place and becomes an all-encompassing, self-contained ecosystem.  In other words, it becomes the “go-to” technology solution for every commercial need.  

Teamlink is a proptech super-app that streamlines the end-to-end property sales process and connects all stakeholders together in real-time in one place.  It is a fully functional and powerful digital platform, with both web and mobile applications, connecting end-to-end stakeholders in the property ecosystem, namely developers, agencies, agents and buyers.  

Based on his 15+ years of experience in the property industry across property sales, management and development, property entrepreneur Chu sees plenty of industry-wide challenges and pain points that can be solved with technology.  

Examples include lengthy administrative processes, cumbersome workflow management, no real-time notification of sales status, and many other problems that ultimately hinder property developers and real estate agents from securing their vital sales flow.  

“For Teamlink, my vision is to connect everyone in the real estate ecosystem in real-time, in one platform that works anywhere, anytime, and on any device,” says Chu.

“No one wants another app on their phone unless it’s a super-app.  Given the fragmented nature of the property industry, super-apps will be a key success factor for small- and medium-sized players,” he continues.

Teamlink has developed an AI-driven SaaS platform making property transactions as simple and intuitive as possible by offering an end-to-end integrated solution to digitise workflows and enhance transparency for all parties including developers, agents and clients. 

From a soft launch in February this year, Teamlink now has over 100 channel agencies on board. Live on the platform it currently has 6,000+ units from 50+ projects across 36 developers.  

“The great thing about proptech is that it’s specifically engineered for the real estate industry, usually by people who have real experience of the pain points,” says Chu.  

“I really want to increase the level of awareness in the property industry – especially among small-medium sized developers and agencies – how technology can improve the way they work in a positive way.”