Smart locks open the door to the real estate sector
There are sectors where the installation of smart locks has saved important operating costs, as in the case of vacation rentals, because they avoid employees having to travel to deliver keys to the guests. The next market to benefit from these advantages could be real estate, because it would enable clients to visit, on their own, properties that are for sale or for rent.
The Caixabank Assessment department forecasts that the Spanish real estate market will stabilise this year and will return to growth and expansion in 2022, increasing prices and sales. A swift recovery that is also great news for the automatic door sector, given the opportunity for development of a business that aims to grow, adapting to the newest trends in society.
One of these trends is the application of technology to all areas and economic activities in order to gain efficiency and save costs, a goal that the automatic door sector can contribute to, with smart locks.
Cost savings
Jon Marco, CEO of Raixer, explains that in some sectors the installation of smart locks came in strong, because the savings in operating costs was higher. An example of this is vacation apartments, which benefited the most, because it avoided “having to deliver keys to guests in-person”.
Now it is the real estate sector that could benefit from these advantages, eliminating many of the trips that its employees have to take to show homes to potential buyers. “It would also eliminate the problem that these professionals face in having to manage hundreds of keys”.
This is why Marco is convinced that this market will be next in massively installing smart locks. “Early installation would give a huge competitive edge for pioneering companies, the same as happened with the tourism sector”. As he points out, “in just a few years independent visits to properties will be standard in the sector, because we are increasingly seeing more interest shown by real estate agencies”.
But not everything is rosy in this picture. There are usually three main disadvantages when installing a smart lock in a home that is for sale: “there is no internet connection, the electricity contract is not active in the property and a squatter-prevention system is required”. Raixer is aiming to resolve these problems with a new lock, that will be available on its website in March.