Brokers and lenders gear up for a new form of high-tech combat
Money provides a good starting point when discussing AI and real estate. It’s estimated that just four companies – Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta – will spend $700 billion on AI development just this year, with billions more coming from additional firms.
No one is spending $700 billion with the hope of breaking even. The goal is to generate immense profits and massive value increases. Brokers and lenders see parallel opportunities, and the result is the fast-moving transition we are now seeing in real estate.
According to Grand View Research, the value of software, programs, and related digital tools used in real estate – proptech – totaled roughly $29.1 billion in 2022, a global figure that is expected to reach $94.2 billion by 2030 as real estate increasingly relies on emerging technologies.
Revolutionary Change
The introduction of AI technologies and services is radically changing real estate, but here’s the kicker: We’re just at the start of the AI revolution. As Bill Gates has noted, “There is no upper limit on how intelligent AIs will get.”
AI systems are already birthing new models with Frankenstein-like creativity. OpenAI reported in February that its “GPT‑5.3‑Codex is our first model that was instrumental in creating itself.”
If AI can produce better models largely on its own, imagine what it will be able to do in five years.
Marketing and the Zero-Click Universe
The most-visible union of AI and real estate involves online marketing. Until recently, if you searched online, the result was pages and pages of links. The goal for marketers was to have the first link listed on Google – by far the largest search engine – or at least on the first results page, using a process generally known as search engine optimization (SEO).
However, results are presented in a new way with AI systems. According to Digital Applied, “64.82% of Google searches now end without a click.”
Wait! If there are no clicks, then how will we get online traffic? No doubt websites will continue to get traffic, but volume is likely to decline, and that means new online economics.
For example, Growtika recently headlined that “the Internet’s Most-Read Tech Publications Have Lost 58% of Their Google Traffic Since 2024.”
The site continued and said, “We tracked the organic search traffic of CNET, Wired, The Verge, TechRadar, and six others from early 2024 to today. Combined, they’ve lost 65 million monthly visits. Some lost over 90%.”
“The fundamental difference from traditional search is in the output,” said Almcorp, a digital marketing agency. “Traditional search ranks pages. AI search composes answers.”
The new goal is to be a trusted source mentioned in AI responses. To do this with answer engine optimization (AEO), brokers and lenders need content that is authentic, authoritative, original, and current; material that can be easily understood by both people and AI systems alike.
According to Profound, “Where traditional SEO aims to rank pages for keywords and drive clicks, AEO prioritizes being selected and mentioned by answer engines as the authoritative answer to a user’s question.”
AI search highlights two ideas: first, content is king, and second, there’s significant value in being an authority figure.
“Topical authority matters because it signals to search engines and users that your site is a reliable, expert resource on a subject,” according to Insightland. “This, in turn, leads to higher rankings, more trust, and better user engagement.”
Three Strategies
Morgan Stanley Research examined the tasks of 162 real estate investment trusts (REITs) and commercial real estate (CRE) firms. It estimated that with AI, $34 billion in costs can be reduced by 2030, less than five years from now.
“The analysis,” said the company in a 2025 report, “indicated that 37% of the tasks that these companies perform can be automated, particularly in management; sales and related activities, office and administrative support; and installation, maintenance and repairs.”
Massive savings are a benefit that won’t be ignored, so how can industry firms and employees respond? There are three emerging strategies.
Strategy 1: Be First in Line
It might seem as though large numbers of employees will lose their jobs because of growing AI use, replaced by electrons, programs, and software. So far, at least, there has not been a flood of layoffs.
Government figures show that real estate industry employment levels generally remained steady between 2022 and today.
Growing levels of AI engagement have not spurred substantial unemployment. Instead, AI at this time is largely being used for mundane tasks. According to the 2026 Delta Media Real Estate AI & Leadership Survey released in January, 82% of real estate agents already use AI to write listing descriptions, 74% employ the technology to create blogs, social posts, and email campaigns, and 49% utilize AI for social media marketing.
However, as individuals and systems become more productive with AI, who stays and who goes will depend on performance. According to Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi, “It’s that some better educated or more modernly educated worker can do that job because they can be twice as productive or three times as productive.”
This is the point where opportunities exist.
As Axios co-founder and CEO Jim VandeHei advises, “Start using AI for something other than searching for an answer or rewriting a paper. Don’t ask Claude or ChatGPT to do the work. Ask it to make you better at the things you don’t want to do. Do that every day for 30 days. You’ll be in the top 5% of your generation.”
Whether you’re at the top of the organizational chart or elsewhere, you will need to learn and understand AI. The good news is that free AI sites now offer access to enormously powerful systems. No coding is involved. You can start learning by yourself, and you can also take courses from such online outlets as Coursera and the Khan Academy.
Strategy 2: Have AI Work for You
Just about every real estate nook and cranny will soon have an AI component. Now is the time to embrace AI, increase productivity, and use AI assistants to expand your services and value.
According to Microsoft, “The companies out ahead—Frontier Firms—are human-led and agent-operated. They weave AI into the fabric of their organizations to pioneer new operating models, reinvent functions, and prioritize ongoing skill development at every level.”
- Wouldn’t that just-listed property look great with a built-in pool? Why take on the cost and risk of building a new pool when you can use virtual staging to show how an empty yard might look?
- What is that home really worth? ATTOM points out that traditional automated valuation models (AVMs) “rely heavily on recent comparable sales, which limits accuracy in today’s low-transaction housing market.” Instead, ATTOM uses AI to look at time-adjusted transaction histories that can go back as long as 30 years. This can improve pricing, underwriting, portfolio analysis, and risk management.
- Better’s Tinman AI app uses new technology to speed the underwriting process. The company says that its system is “the first conversational credit decision engine for mortgages and home equity loans in ChatGPT with OpenAI.” Faster underwriting introduces more certainty into the buying process, something important in a marketplace where more than 50,000 purchase contracts fell through in March, according to Redfin.
- Need a receptionist? Go electronic. AI Frontdesk, as one example, says it offers “a 24/7 virtual receptionist service that can handle calls, schedule appointments, and answer common questions, freeing up agents’ time.”
And why not use AI to enhance existing systems? The Internet of Things (IoT) is a growing part of real estate management, essentially the marriage of AI and an endless number of sensors, meters, and gauges.
“Not long ago,” said the American Bar Association last year, “due diligence meant walking a property, flipping through financials, and reviewing leases. Today, the property itself is talking—and the language is data.”
Strategy 3: Don’t Forget the Basics
For all the advantages AI may offer, it’s not human; it has no wishes or desires. It can organize your schedule, keep meeting notes, and generate amortization schedules with electronic speed, but it feels no joy from an ocean breeze or a baby’s smile.
Importantly, the increased use of AI may not generate expected revenues or profits.
A recent Gartner survey of 350 major business leaders found that layoffs associated with increased AI usage often did not lead to higher returns on investment.
“Many CEOs turn to layoffs to demonstrate quick AI returns; however, this disposition is misplaced,” said Helen Poitevin, Distinguished VP Analyst at Gartner. “Workforce reductions may create budget room, but they do not create return. Organizations that improve ROI are not those that eliminate the need for people, but those that amplify them by aggressively investing more in skills, roles and operating models that allow humans to guide and scale autonomous systems.”
A 2025 study by MIT researchers found something similar. “Despite $30–40 billion in enterprise investment into GenAI,” it said, “this report uncovers a surprising result in that 95% of organizations are getting zero return.”
In some cases, AI use can produce significant headaches. For instance, a database of so-called “AI hallucination cases” listed 981 US court filings as of early May with AI issues. In one well-publicized case, Sullivan & Cromwell, a well-regarded law firm, apologized this year for a motion with numerous AI errors, including references to fictitious court cases.
In its apology, Sullivan & Cromwell described its training program and made several important points that can help brokers and lenders.
- Firms must require AI training.
- There is risk associated with the use of AI programs.
- Firms must set clear standards regarding AI use.
- “Trust nothing and verify everything” means there must be human oversight.
Lastly, even in the AI era, brokerage and lending will continue to rely on people to generate business.
Club members, alumni, PTA parents, cousins, motorcycle enthusiasts, and the neighbor who helped when that big tree came down all have a head start in the race for commissions and fees. It means that to be successful, brokers and lenders must remain known and active in their community, no matter how their community is defined or how quickly AI evolves.