The World Economic Forum’s recent Future of Jobs Survey revealed that 86% of employers expect artificial intelligence and information processing to transform their business by 2030.
Many employers reported they are seeking applicants who have AI-relevant skills, but 41% of those surveyed expect to ultimately downsize their workforce as the technology takes root.
In real estate, the respondents reported that 64% of tasks are currently done predominately by people, but in five years, the share of solely human-performed work is expected to drop to 42%, according to the survey.
The technology is likely to replace repetitive tasks such as reading and responding to emails and other administrative or data-heavy work, said Rod Santomassimo, founder and president of The Massimo Group, a firm that focuses on coaching commercial real estate brokers. It already implements AI to assist with company administrative duties.
AI and information processing technologies are the top listed trends in the real estate industry and globally for what will be driving future business transformation.
“Employers have to show and demonstrate they are on the cutting edge of technology and leveraging it to help their employees realize they can move forward,” Santomassimo said.
Dan Weisman, the National Association of Realtors’ director of innovations strategy, said the adoption of AI could create time for more important, personal tasks.
“It’s actually going to give agents and brokers an opportunity to do stuff they wanted to do when they became an agent or broker which is interact with people, help people, get them into a home, help them sell a home, not write listing descriptions or social posts,” Weisman said.
He said the NAR already provides its members with its Realtor property resources, a product with different listings with AI capabilities such as instantly drafting a blog post about a property to help agents save time.
David Poline, president and CEO of Poline Search Partners, which recruits for positions in the commercial real estate industry, said real estate is usually one of the slowest fields to adopt new technologies because of the nature of the business.
“Successful real estate transactions are often built on strong relationships and the ability to connect personally. Sitting across the table from one another fosters trust and understanding, which are critical to getting deals done,” Poline said.
The World Economic Forum found real estate employers were among the top 10 industries to consider creative thinking, curiosity and lifelong learning, talent management and analytical thinking as skills that are growing in importance in the workforce from 2025 to 2030.
Saadia Zahidi, the World Economic Forum’s managing director, highlighted uncertainty in economic growth and inflation as factors impacting the real estate industry in the next five years. Zahidi said adapting the workforce by prioritizing the skills they want, and they believe will benefit the industry.
Despite this, 60% of employers in real estate said the inability to attract talent is a key barrier to the growth by 2030.
“To increase industry attractiveness, a majority of companies intends to support employee health and well-being and provide better training opportunities, as only 34% of employees in the industry have currently undergone reskilling or upskilling, compared to a global industry average of 50%,” the report said.
Many employers also say they are offering higher wages and leveraging diversity, equity and inclusion programs, among other incentives, to improve talent availability.
Poline said there are currently more jobs than people looking for positions in the real estate industry and AI may actually help fill the gap.
“I don’t see a massive takeover happening anytime soon," he said. "The technology still has significant room for growth and development before that becomes a reality.”