If AI can write essays, drive cars, and compose music, why can’t it also help solve Canada’s housing crisis? According to a new report from Proptech Collective, AI and a variety of other property technologies are playing a bigger role than ever in making construction more efficient, housing more accessible, and commercial real estate smarter.
Proptech Collective is a national industry association dedicated to innovation and technology in the real estate and construction sectors. The report comes on the heels of the Canadian government announcing an investment of $3.5M in a new housing innovation hub.
While the 2024 Proptech in Canada report details the status of proptech in Canada — through an analysis of 530 active startups in the country — let’s take a look at what trends the group has highlighted for 2025 in the construction, residential, and commercial sectors within the industry.
What’s next in Canadian proptech?
According to the report, 2025 is the year that a wide variety of proptech startups address efficiency and sustainability — not to mention the industry’s AI potential.
Stephanie Wood, vice president at Alate Partners and head of the Proptech Collective’s report, told Fintech.ca that “early business models have made us smarter about what works; customer expectations have evolved to prioritize technology that has an ROI; and founders are building with a sharper focus on efficiency and strong unit economics from the start.”
With AI, it’s all about streamlining.
“One of the big things in real estate is there’s so much data […] and there’s a lot of people that are always involved,” Wood explained to Storeys. “So how can you reduce repetitive tasks, how can you process more data and make better decisions quicker?”
Construction
In the construction sector, addressing a shrinking workforce and cost-efficiency is a priority. This can be achieved through modular and offsite construction, reducing costs and increasing quality control, and workforce tech that improves management, performance, and safety. The use of new materials like recycled components and low-carbon concrete are a durable way of reducing environmental impact.
In this sector, AI could be deployed to help automate the engineering process and scheduling, analyze municipal regulations, and, through generative AI, assist with (and optimize) upfront design.
Residential housing
In the residential sector, the focus, unsurprisingly, is affordability, along with streamlining the notoriously step-heavy process.
Creative ownership models and alternative financing solutions could help prospective buyers who have been shut out of the market get a foot in the door.
Another trend is a consolidated, seamless approach to buying, with platforms that integrate multiple steps in the homebuying process. Alternative brokerage solutions help agents focus on their client relationship as opposed to the mountains of paperwork.
In the world of residential properties, AI has potential to automate the leasing process and the workload of real estate agents. Predictive technology can help with home management like predictive maintenance and energy optimization, and with tenant screening, helping to determine reliability and risk.
While not mentioned in the report, it should be noted that deploying AI in such a way, with its documented pattern of bias, could lead to discrimination — already a concern among fair housing advocates.
Commercial real estate
Commercial real estate (CRE) trends point to smart solutions like IoT for optimizing operations management. Investment technology can help manage an expected increase in transactions if interest rates stabilize and improve. The rise of data centres as commercial asset classes point to a need for sustainable energy and technology for increasing demands on power.
With AI in the CRE sector, energy needs of properties can be better managed, meaning cost savings and lower consumption. In this same vein, electric vehicle charging can be optimized through AI, reducing grid capacity.
Finally, if there’s one thing about CRE, it’s the amount of data from both portfolio and property management. AI can help investors make better decisions with their assets and offer summarized details on documents, such as leases and contracts.
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