The Influence of Information and Communication Technologies on Real Estate Development in Kenya

Abstract

The extensive real estate environment has continued to change rapidly, and the managers have been forced to compensate for changes in culture, politics, economics and technology by investing in new equipment and improving technology, so as to offer competitive products. Science, technology and innovations are critical factors helping achieve sustainable real estate growth and development by taking into account the economic, environmental and social dimensions of real estate growth. In recent years, real estate industry has adopted several types of ICT products covering the electronic communication system, documentation and accounting, quantity surveying, architectural/engineering design and drawing, and also project planning and tracking. A number of factors are however affecting the ICT implementation in the real estate industry including individual, organizational, and technological level factors. This study, therefore, sought to determine the effect of Information and Communications Technologies on the practice of real estate development in Kenya. The study is informed by decision theory and game theory. This study adopted a descriptive survey design. In this research, the total population of 124 was considered and was taken from the real estate firms located in Nairobi, and it constituted members of the Kenya real estate developers association who include 75 property Developers; 10 Real Estate Agents/Managers; 29 Professional Real Estate Firms and 10 Real Estate Industry Suppliers. This study adopted a random stratified sampling method to select 30% of the target population. The study also used primary data which was collected using a questionnaire with both open-ended and close-ended questions. The data was then analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The descriptive statistical tools (SPSS Version 20 and Excel) helped the researcher to describe and analyze the data. The study concludes that adoption of technology in real estate industry in Kenya facilitated faster construction times, reduced labour costs, fewer defects, less waste, better health and safety. Adoption of information and communication technology in customer service promoted service delivery to customers. Adoption of information communication technology promoted the quality in construction design features. There is a need for real estate industry to improve its productivity, quality and flexibility, along with requirement to adapt technologies. Players in real estate industry should capitalize their sales on multiple listing, this will ensure that property get the maximum and best possible exposure. Firms in real estate industry should continually embrace technology in marketing of their products. This is based on evidence that use of technological marketing tools was cost effective compared with traditional marketing methods. Firms in real estate industry should continually embrace technology in service delivery. Assimilating technology in service delivery process enable real estate firms reap numerous benefits like customer trust and loyalty, efficiency in service delivery process, save time and service cost. Players in real estate industry should adopt technology in construction and design. Adopting technology in this area will itself offer a competitive advantage since firm will be able to design complex buildings and infrastructure projects and at the same time aid the step-by-step implementation of the design plan.