9 Reflections from CREtech 2025: A Proptech conference that felt like real estate
CREDIT: CRETECH
A couple of weeks ago, I attended CREtech London. I’ve been totally swamped since, so I gave up on the idea of posting anything. Then the organisers sent out an email saying “Send us a selfie and we’ll dig out any photos we took of you.” Which I did, mostly out of curiosity. Would their face recognition get it right? Sure enough, a day later I got the photos. It was really me, zipping around Convene, mid-conversation.
That was the nudge I needed. So here I am, making time for a few reflections.
1. It was a Proptech Conference with a lot of actual "Real Estate People"
The format at CREtech was different - it was deliberately more intimate and focused on the real-estate community rather than the proptech community. The ratio of proptech to real estate folks was probably about 1:4 and there were only a few hundred tickets available for the event, that took place in a single auditorium.
The vibe was less “let me tell you about my tokenized platform built on the blockchain for dog-friendly co-living.” More “here’s how I’m dealing with WACC, occupancy, and whether it’s worth touching offices right now.”
2. The REIT CEOs Showed Up - and Got Pretty Honest
I’ll give it to the organisers: they managed to get the CEOs of some of the biggest UK REITs on stage together for the opening discussion. It was great to see my old mentor Simon Carter on stage (see what I did there.... the shameless namedrop?).
The conversation spanned everything from the economics and liquidity of offices, to holding back some dry powder in wait of good opportunities, and ofcourse, where AI fits into all of this.
We were reminded about that brief, weird period when some people thought the metaverse was going to be a thing. We heard some of the worst advice they've ever been given.
At the end, when asked the million dollar question of whether it's lonely at the top, only one CEO was willing to admit, that yes..... it's kind of lonely. Considering that even I am lonely at the top of my much... much smaller empire, he gets maximum points for relatability.
CREDIT: CRETECH
3. As you can imagine, AI was everywhere at CREtech.
The pace of change is real. It’s tempting to get swept up in the hype. There were some genuinely impressive tools on display - from agentic workflows to DCF models built by bots, JLL’s internal GPT, the agent-led lease review workflows and even voice assistants that can fool customers you into thinking they are speaking to a person (which, for the record, I find ethically questionable. I’d like to know if I’m talking to a bot, thanks.)
4. But AI Is a Multiplier - Not a Miracle, and some of the limitations were on display
As someone on stage said:
“You can’t out-AI your crappy legacy systems.”
The room laughed. But it landed for a reason.
Some limitations of AI were obvious too. At one point, a founder who had definitelty paid a hefty price to present stood up to present his sleek AI product. The product was super cool, but slide after slide flashed up, riddled with typos and unfinished sentences. The guy next to me leaned over and whispered: “Oh no… he used AI to make the slides.”
I genuinely felt for him. It was a live demonstration of AI’s brilliance as well as the ways it could let you down. It happens to the best of us comrades.*
5. Fee Compression Is Already Biting - up to 30% in some cases
One speaker casually dropped that they’re seeing 30% valuation fee compression because clients now expect you to be using AI to reduce costs. It’s already being priced in - ready or not.
That’s the paradox: you don’t need to build the AI yourself. But you do need to know how to use it, because if you don’t, your margin’s gone either way.
6. JLL’s using AI, like, a lot
JLL had their own 1 hour panel discussion at the conference.
Well played.
The CTO Yao Morin, Ph.D. (the first person to ever hold that role at JLL) shared their strategy: build useful tools, make life easier for staff, and don’t break things in the process. Their internal guardrails around responsible AI use were actually written by their General Counsel, not marketing.
What really stood out? JLL’s annual AI hackathon. This year was their fifth, with 1,600 people submitting 200+ ideas on how to use AI to solve everyday problems. Some were small workflow tweaks. Others were more ambitious. But the point is: they’ve created an internal culture where AI is embedded.
Raj Singh summed it up perfectly:
“You don’t need to be the expert at generating AI solutions. You need to be the expert at using them.
7. Human-centered real estate is having its moment - all roads lead to the end user
The panel that left the biggest impression on me at CREtech was titled “A Design for Life: Why Human-Centered Places and Spaces Are the Key to Future-Proofing the Built World.”
It could’ve been fluffy, but it wasn’t.
On stage were Laura Flanagan Boudewijn Ruitenburg Angela Kukula Andy Young and Richard Walker OBE .
They talked about buildings as “villages,” where you don’t need to leave for fresh air. About retrofits over demolitions. About designing spaces that offer flexibility, joy, and dignity. About treating buildings not just as assets, but as places to be.
Andy Young of BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) shared Google’s guiding principle for workplace design:
“Look after the end user, and everything else falls into place.”
Honestly, I don’t think I’ve heard a better summary of the challenge real estate faces today.
8. Scientists Deserve Sunlight Too
Angela Kukula from MedCity said something during the panel that took me straight back to my lab days. She said she wished the same attention given to office occupier experience was extended to life sciences and labs.
I used to be a research scientist. I spent the first years of my career in a cold lab, under fluorescent lights with no windows and an AC vent blasting directly onto my desk and fume hood. I rarely knew what time of day it was or what the weather was like outside. No one cared.
She’s right. Science doesn’t have to mean suffering. Even high-performance spaces can be designed with human needs in mind.
CREDIT: CRETECH
9. Value Follows Customer Experience, and it always Has.
When I was writing corporate strategy at British Land, a lot of my work involved tracking trends across society and behaviour, and asking:
What do people want, really?
What’s changing - whats cyclical vs structural?
What does it mean for real estate demand, value, and investment?
And here’s what I learned: Yes, I understand the capital stack, the yield profile, and lease covenant value. But I also know this: If people like a space, they’ll pay more for it.
That’s where real value lies - not in gimmicks, but in delivering something people want to be part of. Technology has always been an enabler, not the end goal.
Lately, my work has brought me back into the world of real estate customer experience. At CREtech, I sensed the industry starting to come around. Slowly. But it’s happening. And the firms that take this seriously, who invest in understanding the end user and deliver on it, will win.
Great to connect with old colleagues and industry friends like Michael Delfs Sarah Hayford Luke Graham Tanisha Raffiuddin FRSA Jules Barker Alex Wiffen and meet new folks like Sarah Wernér . Thanks to Emily Wright for being a great host.
For more insights like these follow me Chenai Gondo, PhD
*(PS. Friends, don't get caught out. Just come and hire one of my virtual human marketing assistants at askChenai , our slides will be perfect! Or else you can have a human head to roll when they aren't)
CREDIT: CRETECH