How AI is Reinventing Real Estate, Why it Matters to India

By Sudie Sengupta

Real estate has traditionally lagged other industries in adopting information technology. Leaders often prioritised craftsmanship, individual expertise and reputation over scalable brand systems or process consistency. Deal-making was personality-driven, anchored in closed networks. But that equation is changing fast with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI).

Post-COVID recovery, global digital convergence and climate disruptions have intensified the need to reimagine our relationship with the built environment. According to an Accenture survey, over 70 per cent of global executives believe the pace of digital transformation has permanently accelerated. Yet real estate still ranks among the bottom three industries in global tech maturity.

At the same time, global internet penetration has raised customer expectations by making quality benchmarks more transparent and comparable. As geopolitical uncertainty and inflation reshape supply chains, even minor changes in interest rates or labour costs can significantly affect cash flow. To adapt, real estate firms are increasingly embracing advanced IT and AI tools—not just for efficiency but for competitive resilience.

Historically, real estate IT investment focused on back-office functions like HR and finance. Today, the shift is toward managing customer experience and forecasting business outcomes. AI is poised to be a game changer across the real estate value chain—from design to delivery to operations.

In India, real estate contributes 7.3 per cent to GDP with market size projected to reach $1 trillion by 2030. Yet over 90 per cent of players still operate in unorganised, tech-deficient segments. Urban challenges—such as transit congestion, pollution and housing shortages—demand smarter, more sustainable solutions. Globally, construction inefficiency costs over $1.6 trillion annually due to delay, overrun and fragmented coordination.

In India alone, 4,000 government infrastructure projects are delayed by an average of 36 months. Key government initiatives such as RERA, the Smart Cities Mission and Housing for All continue to push for greater transparency, accountability and digital adoption. Yet the sector faces challenges in tier 2 and 3 cities that AI can uniquely address.

Leading organisations are responding by deploying AI systems—including Generative AI, large language models and predictive analytics. These tools integrate vast internal and external datasets to identify patterns, forecast scenarios and recommend actionable strategies. For these systems to succeed, however, leaders must first strengthen core processes, ensure clean data and enable cross-functional adoption across three key dimensions:

• Managing Growth and Scale: Traditional investment decisions—based on intuition and limited data—are no longer sufficient. AI enables richer pricing and planning models that account for infrastructure, demographics, amenities and climate projections. It can map demand across income brackets, simulate infrastructure impact and guide targeted investment in social services. By integrating data on schooling, healthcare and commercial activity, AI can help developers optimise layouts and land use with greater precision.
• Empowering Customer Decisions: Homebuyers increasingly expect seamless, digitally supported journeys. AI can personalise property recommendations, simulate cost scenarios, bundle furnishings and appliances and reduce decision timelines. Predictive models can track commodity pricing and policy changes to forecast cash flow and ROI. Such tools also help customers evaluate mortgage risk and financing options in real time—making property ownership faster, easier, and more informed.
• Improving Operations and Efficiency: Project delay and cash-flow constraints remain persistent industry pain points. AI, when paired with Building Information Modeling and Digital Twin technologies, can transform construction oversight, site safety and energy optimisation. Once operational, these tools extend to lifetime asset management—boosting transparency, wellness and performance. In an era of economic shocks and political volatility, AI can model economic risk exposure and simulate contingency responses across portfolios.

Urban Indian millennials now comprise over 34 per cent of homebuyers and demand digital-first engagement—from 3D walkthroughs to automated loan comparisons. Globally, real estate tech start-ups raised over $18 billion in 2022 with AI driving innovation in customer analytics, transaction automation and asset visualisation.

The winners in this AI-led era will not simply digitize traditional processes—they will reimagine value itself. Success will be measured not only by square footage or sale price, but by sustainability, resilience and community impact.

Governments are already laying the groundwork. In the US, the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and CHIPS Act are reshaping land-use policy and urban design priorities.

India’s Gati Shakti mission integrates logistics and infrastructure planning across ministries through a national digital platform. These initiatives create fertile ground for AI to deliver more timely, inclusive and effective outcomes.

While AI offers transformational potential, it must be approached responsibly. Algorithms can homogenise thinking or hallucinate insights when poorly trained or contextually blind. Human oversight remains essential.

Real estate leaders must embed AI in a way that augments—not replaces—professional judgment, creativity and stakeholder accountability. Just as e-commerce reinvented consumption in the early 2000s, AI is poised to redefine how we build and inhabit space. The challenge for the real estate leaders at every level of the organisation lies in using this powerful tool thoughtfully—to shape a future that is efficient, equitable and high performing.

At least in the real estate sector, AI has the potential of creating enormous value by creating new job types that eliminates performance gaps, helps direct investment and impacts human experience. As India prepares for rapid urbanization and climate-driven pressures, AI adoption must be made inclusive—bridging gaps across cities, income groups and infrastructure capacity.

Sudie Sengupta has over two decades of experience at the intersection of people, real estate and technology. He has advised Fortune 500 firms and public-sector organizations globally and is based in New York City.

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect Realty&More’s views.