Two major real estate conferences took place last week on opposite sides of the Atlantic. At MIPIM and RETCON, one topic kept coming up: how AI will reshape the real estate industry.

In a new column published on Unite.AI, a leading AI-focused media platform, Ilia Sotonin, CEO and founder of Unitify, argues that the real shift may not come from another app or platform, but from something much more fundamental — an API layer for buildings:

— Your AI assistant can check your bank balance in seconds. But try asking it a simple question about your apartment: “What do I owe this month?” Mostly, the answer is still: call the management office between 9 and 5. I believe residential real estate will face its own Plaid moment very soon. The idea is simple: before AI can help residents and property managers, buildings need an open API layer. A standardized interface that allows AI agents to securely access unit-level data — balances, meter readings, maintenance status — with resident consent. When that happens, buildings stop being static assets and start behaving more like digital platforms.

Read the full column on Unite.AI