As MIPIM is coming to a close, one theme kept appearing across panels and hallway conversations this year: AI is rapidly moving from buzzword to infrastructure for real estate.

Over the past days, the Unitify team had the pleasure of meeting inspiring developers, property and facility operators, and investors. It was great connecting with teams from Savills, NAZCA Facility Management, BPD | Bouwfonds Gebiedsontwikkeling, R&W Living GmbH, Castro Group, Nexa SGOIC, Smart Parking AG, Bem Estate Management, and many others.

Several discussions — including the Digital Real Estate Innovations lecture series organised with Columbia University — highlighted how AI is beginning to reshape real estate:
• predictive analytics for investment decisions — helping investors forecast demand and identify risks earlier
• data-driven site selection — using large datasets to identify the most promising locations for development
• AI-assisted deal analysis and underwriting — accelerating investment decisions and due diligence
• energy optimisation and ESG monitoring — helping operators manage consumption and sustainability targets
• automation of operational processes across portfolios and resident-level data insights — enabling better services and communication (something we already deliver through Unitify for our clients, their teams, contractors, and residents)

After many conversations at MIPIM, our takeaway is simple: AI in real estate is not only about algorithms. It is about data infrastructure.

Today, most buildings still operate on fragmented systems — billing, maintenance, access control, resident communication, and energy data often live in separate platforms, spreadsheets, or internal databases.
That fragmentation limits what AI can actually do.

Without structured, connected operational data, most AI applications remain theoretical or limited to isolated use cases. This is where the next phase of digital transformation in real estate is happening: creating a unified digital layer for building operations.

Our POV: the path to AI in residential real estate often starts with something less visible — building a system that connects residents, services, finance, building infrastructure, and operational workflows into one environment.
Once that digital foundation exists, AI can finally start delivering real value for owners, operators, and residents.

Conversations at MIPIM made it clear that the industry is moving quickly in this direction. Great to meet so many people pushing residential real estate forward. Looking forward to continuing these discussions after Cannes!