The Custom App Technology Revolutionizing CRE

David Peterson

Tech platform Airtable is taking the guesswork out of technology for real estate companies. With it, companies can create bespoke apps and tools tailored to any sector within the industry—from property management to investment to brokerage—all without hiring an IT team or knowing anything about coding. The concept has already sold many companies, like SRS and Newmark Knight Frank, and is backed by $70 million in funding.

Howie Liu, the co-founder and CEO of Airtable and an experienced tech developer, recognized that most custom software in the real estate industry has more commonalities than differences and actually often uses the same set of building blocks. “It occurred to him that if you were to create a lego-kit made up of those various parts—and got rid of all the coding—you could make it possible for anyone to create their own powerful business solutions, without needing to hire an external developer, or bring in the entire IT team,” David Peterson, growth manager at Airtable, tells GlobeSt.com. “Many CRE professionals today simply don’t have the option to hire those developers and IT teams, so they are using spreadsheets in lieu of apps designed for their needs.”