Property data gaps are delaying investment decisions
Australian property professionals are spending up to half their time gathering basic data before they can analyse it, slowing investment decisions, according to Domain president Jason Pellegrino.
“When we talk to many operators within the industry – whether they are in the agency, owner or investor sphere – people at a mid to junior level are spending 30 to 50 per cent of their time gathering data before they get to the point of asking what the data actually means,” Pellegrino told the Property Congress in Brisbane this week.
“What an utter waste of time.”
His comments came as investors contend with volatile economic conditions and shifting government policy, and followed a presentation from JLL Australia chief executive Selina Short, who named predictability as one of five increasingly scarce commodities shaping property markets.
Pellegrino said the cost of fragmented data went beyond the hours spent collecting it, leaving market participants working from different versions of reality.
“The lack of really robust, transparent, accurate and confident data creates room to tell whatever story you want to tell,” he said. “There are four versions of the truth in your forecast.
“You don’t make decisions based on past data. You make decisions based on what you think is going to happen in the future.”
He said the industry needed to spend less time establishing what had already happened and more time working out what it meant for rents, values, demand and investment.
“I loved that phrase earlier today: time kills deals,” Pellegrino said, referencing an earlier comment made by QIC Real Estate boss Deborah Coakley.
“If we’re spending all our time trying to make sure that the data we have about the past is accurate, we’re not focusing on what we think is going to happen in the future.
“We’re just extending the time it takes to reach conviction.”
CoStar, which sells property data and owns Domain, has spent the past year building an Australian commercial property database, with about 200 staff researching more than 100,000 properties across the country. It is due to launch in the coming months.
The product will provide deep access to property information and market analytics for Australia’s commercial property sector.
