It’s 2020. Is multifamily late to the technology party?

It’s no secret that multifamily has been a slow adopter of building technology. For years, the commercial real estate market has embraced building tech, but multifamily has lagged behind due to its lower revenue per square foot, smaller tenant footprint and the fact that each tenant requires his or her own comfort control.

Sure, there’s been lots of buzz about smart apartments, tenant experience platforms and the like, but for much of the multifamily market, including senior and affordable housing, those solutions haven’t necessarily made sense, so it’s easy to think that technology has passed parts of the market by.

But 2020 could be the year that all changes, and ironically, coming late to the party could benefit multifamily.

Unlike their commercial real estate counterparts, who now face the reality of integrating siloed networks and systems deployed over the last decade, multifamily owners and operators now have the ability to deploy a single building network that improves staff efficiency, lowers energy costs and improves the resident experience.

But how? Sensors for water leaks, dangerous high humidity or extreme temperatures protect the building asset and allow staff to fix problems before they become costly disasters. Smart thermostats and central HVAC controls make residents more comfortable and reduce energy costs and carbon footprint by 10% to 50%. Most importantly, an intelligent building increases staff productivity and staff satisfaction by making the smartphone in their pocket the first tool they reach for to resolve tenant complaints and troubleshoot potential building issues. 

Thanks to the combination of new, high performance, reliable, low cost devices and recent advances in cloud computing, multifamily is ripe to lead the next wave of  building technology at a lower cost and higher return on investment than ever before.

In 2020, multifamily has the opportunity to do it once and do it right.