China is expected to lead the way in property technology as the real estate industry continues to be shaped by the rapidly growing technology and Internet sectors.

Albert Ovidi, chief operating officer of JLL Asia Pacific, said that artificial intelligence, blockchain, virtual and augmented reality, and the Internet of Things will be the future of proptech — all of which China excels at.

Currently, China owns about 20% of the global market share of Internet-connected devices, making it the leader in IoT.

“In the past four years, we have seen coworking space with technology, new retail experience centres and many proptech startups focusing on the real estate industry rise rapidly in Beijing,” said Julien Zhang, managing director of North China at JLL. “This confirms our belief there is great potential for proptech in Beijing, which is the centre of national technology innovation.”