فناوری اطلاعات و ارتباطات در صنعت دارایی واقعی: بهره وری، ساختار صنعت و کارایی بازار

This survey of changes in the real estate industry due to information and communication technology (ICT) covers three areas: (a) A brief survey of ICT applications in the property industry, (b) speculation about implications for market structure and productivity within the real estate industry, and (c) comments on the wider macroeconomic implications of these changes. Improvements in information and productivity may lead to important long-run changes in business processes and industry structure tending to favour larger firms and promoting specialization of functions. Changing the information structure of real estate decision systems could change system dynamics and improve allocative efficiency. On the other hand, under different institutional arrangements, better information could increase the amplitude of real estate cycles and destabilize economies.

Real estate and construction are important sectors in the economy, employing large amounts of capital and significant proportions of the workforce. Costs of accommodation are a major budget item for households and businesses and the built environment influences quality of life and productivity. This paper surveys information and communications technology (ICT) impacts on real estate industry work processes in three areas: (a) An anecdotal survey of successful ICT applications in the property industry (and two failures), (b) speculation about implications for market structure, services quality and productivity within the real estate industry, and (c) comments on the wider macroeconomic context of these changes, especially implications for real estate cycles. The paper begins with a brief overview of the real estate industry.

This paper has attempted a broad survey of the impact of information and communications technology on the real estate industry. Generalizations about already apparent and possible future implications of ICT for industry structure and performance are drawn. There is strong anecdotal evidence that ICT has improved productivity in the property industry and that this process will continue as technology diffuses. However, price cutting and service quality improvements have meant that the main beneficiaries have been consumers rather than producers in a very competitive industry. Industry structure implications of ICT are mixed. Big firms are aided by globalization and high fixed costs of developing first class ICT. Examples: Century 21 website, Knight Frank database, JLL Advisory research services, TWR forecasting around 70 markets and several property classes in each locality. On the other hand, small firms are aided by affordable ICT and universal Internet linkages that allow them to market worldwide at low cost despite their small size. Another impact of changing information could be changes to allocative efficiency and smoothing endogenous real estate cycles. Property cycles are associated with some of the worst instability scenarios in recent decades, so increasing real estate market efficiency and transparency would be a significant contribution from ICT innovations. Improvements in property information systems do not just happen; they come about as a result of human action. The problems of improving property market efficiency are not automatic as technology allows greater flows of information. The long-term success of an economy requires policies and institutions designed to preserve transparency, social justice and public information necessary for market efficiency. Those political and cultural changes, as shown by the fate of Teleres, are harder to implement than the technology. As Coyle (1996) remarked, “politics is the hard part” in improving systems. The challenge remains for the property industry to find ways to change from the culture of proprietary, secret information, to a culture of openness and market efficiency. The payoffs for the industry could be lower cost of capital, more stable employment levels and more sustainable growth.