The idea of some data being freely available for use and republish without any restrictions has been very helpful in many industries. In real estate, in particular, open data made some significant impacts not just in the United States but as well as other countries. In the following article of The Guardian, it cited how open data helped the Spanish market:
Can data rebuild investors' confidence in Spanish property?
Spain started regularly publishing open data sets in 2013 and is now ranked 17th in the Global Open Data Index. It has a number of datasets published on sites such as the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica and Data.gob.es.
So what impact is this having if any? The data site only went live towards the end of last year but Wilde is convinced it can only improve business.
"Buyers will be better educated about pricing and areas they can and cannot afford," he says. "It won't speed up the sales process but it could make buyers more realistic." Read full article...
Open data has affected the real estate market, not regarding sales, but concerning the feasibility of a particular transaction. It has made almost every real estate transaction convenient and much comfortable. In totality speed and accuracy has been the aim of open data applied in real estate. As mentioned by Joshua McClure in his article, to increase real estate deals, open data is necessary:
To Spur Real Estate Deals, Open Up the Data
The reality is if everyone has fast, accurate access to availability data (information such as square footage and the marketed lease rate), the market's efficiency could increase, reducing the risk and friction that restrict the flow of deals. The entire industry would see an increase in the flow of deals and occupancy rates. Tenants would move out of garages. They would sublease unused spaces and businesses would thrive and grow to use larger spaces. Read full post...
It is somehow easy to believe that open data is boosting the competency of the real estate market this 2016 and the coming years. However, like any other form of data distribution, regulations are to be made and to be followed to avoid any kind of fraudulence.
