How Property Technology Is Reshaping Operations for Multifamily and Commercial Real Estate

Property technology used to mean a better leasing website. That definition is badly out of date now. Today it touches how buildings actually run, day to day.

The global proptech market reached $40.1 billion in 2025. It is projected to grow at a 12.73% annual rate through 2034, according to IMARC Group research.

Property Technology Now Touches Daily Building Operations

Property technology once meant tools bolted onto the leasing process. Today it reaches maintenance, energy management, and security operations directly.

That shift matters because operations, not marketing, are where the real cost savings live. A smarter website helps fill units. A smarter building actually runs more cheaply, every single day.

DPL has been iApartments’ core technology partner since 2019. That platform now manages over 200,000 connected devices across residential units nationwide.

From Marketing Tool to Operations Platform

Early proptech tools focused almost entirely on the leasing funnel. Virtual tours, online applications, and digital lease signing defined the category for years.

That focus has shifted toward operations because the savings are larger and more durable. A better leasing page helps once. A smarter HVAC schedule saves money every single day, year after year.

Proptech Investment Is Accelerating Across Real Estate

Proptech spending is not slowing down, despite a cautious broader real estate market. Owners are prioritizing technology that cuts operating costs directly, not just tenant-facing features.

That shift toward operational proptech reflects real financial pressure. Energy costs, staffing costs, and maintenance costs all keep climbing. Technology that reduces any of them pays for itself quickly.

IoT development has especially been beneficial to real estate for exactly this reason. Connected devices generate the operational data that makes cost reduction possible in the first place.

Smart Building Technology Cuts Real Operating Costs

Smart building systems are delivering measurable savings today, not just projected ones. JLL research found that one London deployment cut electricity usage by 31% within five months.

That same research found smart building upgrades can reduce maintenance costs by up to 20%. Predictive alerts catch equipment problems before they become expensive emergency repairs.

Why Energy is the Biggest Lever

Electricity alone can account for up to a quarter of a commercial building’s operating costs. That makes energy management the single highest-leverage place to apply smart building technology.

Automated HVAC scheduling and occupancy-based lighting deliver savings without any tenant behavior change required. The building simply uses less energy when spaces sit empty.

Predictive maintenance adds a second layer of savings on top of energy alone. Catching a failing compressor early costs far less than an emergency after-hours repair call.

IoT in Real Estate Is the Infrastructure Behind Every Smart Building

IoT in real estate is the layer of sensors and connectivity making every other smart building feature possible. Without it, none of these systems have real data to act on.

Occupancy sensors, smart thermostats, water leak detectors, and access control systems all generate a constant stream of building data. That data has to reach a platform that can actually act on it.

DPL’s predictive maintenance work applies exactly this pattern. Equipment health gets monitored continuously, catching failures before tenants ever notice a problem.

Connectivity choice matters as much in real estate as it does anywhere else. Dense residential buildings often favor low-power wireless protocols over cellular, purely for cost reasons at scale.

Smart Apartment Features Are Now a Leasing Advantage

Smart apartment technology has moved from a nice-to-have amenity to a real leasing advantage. Renters increasingly expect it as a baseline feature, not an upgrade.

Rently’s 2025 Smart Apartment Trends Report found that 65% of renters would pay extra monthly rent for smart amenities. More than half would pay at least $20 more per month specifically.

The same report found that 58% of renters prioritize smart home technology. They rank it over traditional amenities like a pool or gym. That is a real shift in what drives leasing decisions today.

Smart Locks and Access Are the Entry Point

Smart locks and keyless entry are usually where a smart apartment rollout starts. They solve a real operational problem: lost keys, re-keying costs, and slow move-in turnarounds.

From there, thermostats, leak sensors, and video doorbells typically follow. Each addition builds on the same connectivity backbone already installed for the locks.

Package management sensors round out a typical rollout. Automated notifications when a delivery arrives cut down on lost packages and resident complaints considerably.

Smart Community Infrastructure Extends Beyond Individual Units

A smart community applies these same principles at the property level, not just inside individual units. Shared amenities, parking, and common areas all become part of the connected system.

DPL’s smart community work for iApartments illustrates this well. The platform saves an estimated 552,000 manhours annually across the properties it manages, through automation alone.

That scale only works because the underlying architecture was built for it from the start. DPL’s cloud and DevOps services support the infrastructure behind deployments operating at that size.

Shared Amenities Benefit from the Same Sensors

Smart parking sensors reduce the time residents spend circling for a spot. Package room sensors alert staff and residents the moment a delivery arrives, without manual checking.

None of these features require separate infrastructure. They typically run on the same connectivity layer already installed for in-unit smart apartment features.

Where Commercial Real Estate Differs From Multifamily

Multifamily and commercial real estate share the same underlying technology. They apply it toward different goals, though, based on who actually occupies the space.

Multifamily technology optimizes for resident experience and lease renewal rates. Commercial technology optimizes more heavily for energy costs and space utilization data instead.

Both benefit from the same sensor and connectivity foundation underneath. The dashboards and reporting on top just get tuned to different stakeholders and different goals.

Space utilization data matters especially for commercial tenants managing hybrid work patterns. Knowing which floors and rooms actually get used shapes real lease and layout decisions.

Landlords use that same data during lease renewal conversations too. A tenant occupying far less space than they lease has real leverage. That tenant can negotiate a smaller, cheaper footprint going forward.

Data Ownership is Becoming a Real Negotiating Point

Building data has real value beyond the property it comes from. Portfolio-wide energy patterns, occupancy trends, and maintenance history all inform decisions far beyond a single site.

Owners increasingly negotiate for that data to remain theirs, not locked inside a vendor’s proprietary platform. Losing access to years of building data during a vendor switch is a real operational risk.

This is one more reason a custom or open architecture tends to age better than a closed, proprietary platform. Portability matters once a portfolio has been collecting data for years.

Common Mistakes When Adopting Property Technology

A few mistakes show up repeatedly across property technology rollouts. Watch for these before committing budget to a full-scale deployment.

Treating proptech as a single one-time purchase is a common mistake. Sensors and platforms both need ongoing management, not a one-time installation and departure.

Choosing a generic platform not built for real estate is another frequent mistake. Real estate has specific operational patterns that generic IoT platforms rarely address well out of the box.

Skipping a pilot before a portfolio-wide rollout rounds out the list. A small pilot surfaces integration problems while the cost of fixing them is still low.

Underestimating resident or tenant communication is a fourth common mistake. Technology that arrives without explanation tends to generate complaints, even when it genuinely improves daily operations.

The Bottom Line

Property technology has moved well past leasing websites and virtual tours. It now shapes how buildings actually operate, every single day of the year.

Smart buildings cut real operating costs. Smart apartments now influence real leasing decisions directly. Both trends are accelerating, not slowing down, across real estate.

DPL’s IoT and embedded development services power proptech deployments from individual smart units through full smart communities. Talk to us about where your properties stand today.