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The commercial real estate market has been historically slow to modernize, and yet it appears to be accelerating its adoption of artificial intelligence.
Companies are moving beyond initial testing and exploration into more targeted applications that aim to redefine value, according to a new survey from JLL.
The survey of more than 1,500 senior CRE investor and occupier decision-makers across various industries found that, while still in the early stages, organizations are making AI a priority in their technology budgets. They are also moving from using it just for efficiency to focusing on how it can grow their businesses.
JLL found that 88% of investors, owners and landlords said they have started piloting AI, with most pursuing an average of five use cases simultaneously. And more than 90% of occupiers are running corporate real estate AI pilots, according to the report. Compare that with just 5% starting AI pilots two years ago. The adoption is fast, but not entirely easy.
Just 5% of respondents said they have achieved all their program goals, while close to half said they have achieved two to three goals. Much of the efforts are still experimental, without much growth.
"If you think about commercial real estate, traditionally, it is not a quick technology adopter, and it's usually skeptical," said Yao Morin, chief technology officer at JLL. "So the high number of adoptions is actually quite surprising to me. What is not surprising on the flip side is that only 5% actually thinks that they have achieved all the goals. This is pretty aligned with a lot of other industries as well."