.svg)
Reapit has set out a bold view of the future of estate agency at Propertymark One, with Commercial Director Dr Neil Cobbold outlining how artificial intelligence, changing customer expectations and increased competitive pressure are redefining how agencies operate.
Speaking on stage at the conference, Cobbold outlined the three capabilities agents will need to own to win and grow in the next era of estate agency, and how Reapit AI (RAI) is designed to deliver those capabilities to agents in practice.
A model under pressure
Cobbold described a period of structural change in estate agency, driven by the growing role of property portals, increased consumer use of AI and rising expectations for always-on, real-time access to property information.
“An estate agent’s model has never been under more pressure than it is at this moment in time.”
He explained that agents are increasingly operating in a marketplace where customers can search, connect and transact in new ways, which risks reducing the role of agents.
“You’ve got property portals going direct. Customers using AI to find their perfect property, and AI itself being set up for consumer searches.”
This shift is not just changing the competitive landscape, it is also exposing the limitations of how many agencies are currently set up to operate.
Many agents use systems built around isolated transactions, resulting in fragmented workflows, duplicated data and a lack of continuity when customer circumstances change.
As customers rent for longer, move more frequently and agents manage more complex property portfolios, agencies need one connected system to support this broader range of customer demands.
“Property is the last major life category still stuck in disconnected tools.”
The agencies that win will own three things
At the centre of the presentation was a clear framework, informed by Reapit’s 25 years of experience as a leading PropTech provider, setting out what will define the next generation of successful agencies.
Cobbold described three key capabilities:
- Owning the lifetime relationship – maintaining continuous engagement with customers across renting, buying, selling and investing, rather than focusing solely on individual transactions.
- Operating from a single data model – bringing together all customer, property and transactional data into one unified view to see the performance of an agency.
- Applying intelligence to that data – using AI to understand behaviour, identify opportunities and guide agency decision-making to maximise revenue.
He argued: “You’re going to need to own the entire lifetime engagement of a client. Maybe they’re a tenant now, but they’re also a potential future buyer or a future landlord. You need to have one single data model supporting that lifetime relationship, a single data warehouse. If it’s in a single data warehouse, it means that your AI will be as intelligent as it can be.”
Without these elements in place, agencies risk losing visibility of their customers, missing opportunities and becoming disconnected as needs evolve.
A new way of working, powered by RAI
Cobbold set out how delivering these three capabilities will require a fundamental shift in how agents work, enabled by AI. Rather than working through CRM step-by-step, successful agents will use AI tools that they can build themselves – tailored to their business, or trusted agentic AI agents that can operate across all of their PropTech tools to delegate activity to AI. This allows agency teams to focus more on maintaining relationships, managing data effectively and acting on insight.
Showing RAI Copilot on stage, Cobbold demonstrated how agents with the app can leverage the latest Reapit technology to win. “Estate agents stop operating software, and start delegating to it. RAI Copilot works with you on the road. You speak, it listens. It can bring you context where and whenever you need it. A CRM is a system of record. But with AI, it can become a system of action.”
Through RAI, agents will be able to bring these three capabilities together across Reapit in practice, using insight and automation within and beyond the CRM to maintain relationships, unify their customer data, not only from Reapit but also from hundreds of partners, and act on opportunities in real time.
Global alignment underpinning the strategy
The Propertymark One session followed Reapit’s Global Kick-Off conference, which brought together teams from its businesses around the world on the same day across multiple venues to define the next phase of Reapit’s platform and AI-driven growth.
Alongside its AI roadmap, Reapit previewed to staff the next phase of its platform, focused on strengthening the connection between agents and their customers across the property journey.
