Why Invest in Real Estate SaaS Development

The real estate sector has been among the slowest to enter digital transformation. Yet, the limitations of traditional, tech-averse processes are finally pushing companies to catch up. Unlike other industries, where cloud-based applications are the norm, real estate has been slower to adopt these innovations, leaving enormous potential for proptech application development to revolutionize the field.

As more real estate companies turn to digital solutions to automate processes and streamline operations, proptech SaaS companies are gaining traction. According to Deloitte’s 2025 commercial real estate outlook, 81% of industry leaders plan to prioritize spending on data and technology in the coming year, potentially fueled by the rise of generative AI and its transformative applications. This opens up immersive opportunities for proptech companies to fill out the gaps in real estate operations by developing industry-tailored SaaS applications.

In this article, we will explore why developing real estate SaaS applications presents a strategic opportunity for proptech companies and what challenges they may encounter.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a subscription-based model in which a proptech provider delivers a customizable, internet-based solution through a browser or mobile app without installation. The provider also handles updates and maintenance and securely stores all data on remote cloud servers.

SaaS’s impact on real estate is vast. It can bring automation to an industry that has been using manual processes and paperwork for decades. Modern real estate SaaS solutions allow companies to operate with fewer resources and greater agility. This, in turn, can help them compete in a market that has historically been slow to adopt new technology.

The real estate industry will be worth $4.34 trillion in 2025, making it the third-biggest industry globally. It covers diverse areas such as property finance, property transactions, commercial real estate, and residential markets, each with unique issues and challenges. The number of stakeholders and users in each area only complicates these challenges.

Despite the scale of the real estate industry and its pressing operational needs, it has been slow to adopt new technologies. This has led to a reliance on manual processes for tasks such as data entry, property management, and tenant communication. With customers demanding digital solutions, real estate companies face growing pressure to digitize and deliver better client experiences. Such a market situation offers immense potential for proptech software development to cater to the needs of all key roles in real estate operations.

As of 2024, over 5,000 companies are providing SaaS-based real estate solutions, and a total of $9.37 billion has been raised in funding. Though funding saw a sharp decline after 2021, it rebounded to $845M in the first nine months of 2024, which is higher than in 2023. The renewal of funding interest proves that the real estate industry needs transformative software solutions.

However, pouring investments isn’t the only reason proptech solutions are booming. As we’ve mentioned, the real estate market is particularly vast and fragmented, with numerous segments and players. This diversity makes it challenging to find solutions that address the needs and solve the pain points of various market participants. Additionally, regional factors play a significant role, as the EU, the US, and other markets have distinct regulations and geographic nuances (e.g., region-specific integrations with property listing platforms).

As a result, proptech companies turn to custom software development to create tailored solutions to serve particular niches with their unique requirements.

While medium and large real estate companies often opt for custom software development to address their unique requirements, smaller companies may prefer SaaS solutions. In fact, a report by the National Association of REALTORS® highlights that 41% of real estate firms view keeping up with technology as a significant challenge. This points to a pressing need for real estate SaaS solutions, further fueling proptech growth.

The key reasons for the popularity of proptech SaaS in real estate include:

• Operational efficiency. Proptech SaaS solutions can streamline essential real estate processes, including financial operations, property management, purchase, selling, and rent. By automating repetitive tasks, these tools can significantly reduce manual labor, minimize errors, and enhance productivity.
• Technology boost. According to JLL’s 2023 Real Estate Technology Survey, over 85% of real estate companies want to increase their investments in technology, but many firms have struggled to see results from in-house tech initiatives. This trend explains why 78% of real estate firms now plan to engage external partners to enhance their technology outcomes. Using proptech SaaS solutions can give real estate companies a leg up and complement their development efforts.
• Enhanced customer experience. Real estate SaaS solutions can help companies provide a better customer experience through digital property transactions, rental management or other services. A survey by Statista found that 70% of real estate customers reported higher satisfaction levels when using tech-enabled services.
• Market competitiveness. Adopting proptech solutions allows real estate companies to keep pace with evolving market demands and maintain a competitive edge.

Given all the benefits real estate SaaS solutions can bring, it is no wonder they attract significant investment, with the proptech market estimated to be worth over $40 million at the end of 2024. Yet, this growing investment rate isn’t the only reason that pushes proptech companies to develop financial, residential, or commercial real estate SaaS solutions.

Here are the main benefits your proptech company can get by developing a custom real estate SaaS application.

• Recurring revenue stream. SaaS applications provide a scalable business model with recurring revenue streams thanks to offering a subscription model of service. Subscription models ensure a steady income stream, which can be reinvested into research and development to stay ahead of competitors. In other words, your clients will fuel further development of your solution.
• Market share. Real estate SaaS solutions align with the industry’s shift toward digital transformation, prompted by advancements in AI, data analytics, and IoT. Investing in SaaS solutions that integrate these innovations gives proptech companies an opportunity to position themselves as essential partners in the real estate sector’s modernization journey.
• Broad client base. Real estate companies are under pressure to streamline operations, reduce costs, and improve service delivery. Proptech companies that develop real estate SaaS tools addressing these needs can attract a broad client base looking for practical solutions to enhance productivity.

Now that you know the benefits proptech companies and real estate businesses can get from SaaS application development, let’s explore what types of software the market expects.

According to the National Association of Realtors report, the most common tools provided or encouraged by firms are e-signature, comparative market analysis, multiple listing, and electronic contracts/forms. While e-signature doesn’t have to be a standalone tool but rather a feature or an integrated third-party module in a SaaS for real estate, let us concentrate on other solution types.

Proptech SaaS solutions fall into three main categories, each designed to address different aspects of real estate operations. They include:

• Property management solutions
• Property purchase, selling, and rent solutions
• Property finance solutions

Each category umbrellas several solution types designed for specific stakeholder roles, such as buyers, brokers, sellers, renters, landlords, property managers, and agents.

Real estate SaaS solutions in this category have the power to enhance the process of buying, selling, and renting properties.

Here are the leading solutions.

• Tenant communication portal. Today, landlords still rely on paper announcements or, in some cases, social media channels or chat groups to keep tenants informed. However, they lack a streamlined, organized system that ensures important messages reach all tenants promptly. Property managers can minimize missed messages and boost tenant satisfaction with a central communication platform. This portal can automate routine updates and allow managers to respond quickly to tenant queries, creating a more responsive and organized communication flow.
• Rental management tool. This solution can automate rent collection, track payments, and send reminders, which, in turn, will help eliminate paperwork and potential costly mistakes. As a result, property managers could save hours of manual work and headaches.
• Agent portal. Real estate agents can often mix up listings, client appointments, and property showings. An agent portal can bring everything under one digital roof. It allows agents to manage property listings, coordinate viewings, and organize client information.
• Smart home management application. With the rise of IoT, tenants and homeowners expect modern, tech-enabled residential and commercial spaces. Smart home management applications meet this demand by integrating the control of smart devices such as lights, thermostats, and security cameras into one platform. They allow landlords and tenants to monitor property conditions and make real-time adjustments, giving rental properties a competitive edge.

• Security deposit solutions. Manual methods of handling security deposits often lead to disputes and lack transparency. A SaaS-based security deposit solution can automate this process by ensuring that deposits are stored, tracked, and returned in compliance with regulations. It can provide a smoother move-in and move-out process by digitally keeping all records and resolving disputes.

As you can see, these SaaS solutions have the power to enhance the efficiency of property management by turning outdated manual methods into streamlined, tech-driven processes.

These tools focus on increasing the efficiency of the property acquisition and rental process and can benefit buyers, sellers, renters, and brokers.

Here’s a closer look at the critical solutions.

• CRM for brokers. Managing relationships is at the core of a broker’s job. A powerful CRM system can help brokers track interactions, manage follow-ups, and automate client communication. A well-implemented CRM can become more than a tool but a broker’s co-pilot, keeping everything organized.

• Property search portal. Today’s buyers and renters want a property search portal to work like a co-pilot. When powered by AI, the portal can eliminate the noise, letting users find precisely what they need without browsing endless irrelevant listings.

• Real estate marketplace. This tool connects buyers, sellers, and renters and facilitates negotiations and deals in one place. For brokers and agents, it’s an opportunity to showcase properties to a broader audience and close deals faster. For buyers and renters, it’s the comfort of exploring options with all relevant information at their fingertips.
• Online property listings. Outdated listings and poor information lead to missed opportunities and frustrated clients. Online property listings solve this by allowing agents to update property data in real-time. Prospective clients always see the most accurate, up-to-date details. This transparency builds trust and keeps potential buyers or renters engaged.

These SaaS solutions can help cut out inefficiencies, make properties more discoverable, and ensure brokers and agents can spend more time closing deals rather than managing paperwork.

These SaaS solutions focus on streamlining everything from tracking investments to managing leases.

Here’s a closer look at some of them.

• Real estate investment management portal. Tracking the performance of each property in a portfolio is critical for real estate investors. This portal can serve as a command center, showing real-time analytics on cash flow, occupancy rates, and ROI. This tool is invaluable when managing large or diverse portfolios. Instead of digging through spreadsheets or reports, investors can instantly assess and manage assets.

• Mortgage software. Applying for a mortgage is often complex and time-consuming for everyone involved. Mortgage software simplifies this by automating the application, verification, and approval steps for both borrowers and lenders. Here is how it works.

• Real estate lending platform. Financing a property is a multi-step process, with paperwork, compliance checks, and countless touchpoints between lenders and borrowers. A real estate lending platform can connect borrowers and lenders directly and handle loan applications, document submissions, and progress tracking under one roof. This makes the financing process faster and less prone to delays or miscommunication.

• Leasing platform. Leasing is far more than a single contract; it’s an ongoing cycle of payments, renewals, and compliance requirements. A leasing platform automates this entire process, from document signing to payment scheduling and renewal reminders, minimizing manual work and reducing the risk of missed deadlines.

• Real estate invoicing systems. This software tool can streamline the billing process, generate invoices, send payment reminders, and track transactions. For property managers and finance teams, this means fewer missed payments and faster month-end closes. Transparent, automated invoicing can also boost trust with clients and tenants.

Each category serves a distinct purpose in the real estate ecosystem, but they share the common goal of improving efficiency, enhancing user experiences, and supporting transparent and effective operations.

Investing in proptech SaaS solution development within these categories can empower your business to stay competitive, meet the rising expectations of clients, and adapt to a rapidly evolving technological landscape. However, you should also be aware of the challenges that may come along the way.

The real estate industry has been struggling with resistance to change and the adoption of new technologies among industry professionals. Based on our experience in proptech and real estate software development, we can distinguish several challenges standing in the way of SaaS adoption in real estate and suggest ways proptech companies can overcome them.

Despite the push toward digital transformation, the real estate sector struggles with aging technology. Deloitte’s 2024 commercial real estate outlook found that 61% of companies still rely on legacy systems for their core operations. These outdated infrastructures make implementing cloud-based tools, integrating AI, or adopting mobile-friendly platforms harder, which leaves companies slower and less competitive.

A 2023 survey of 750 CFOs revealed that while 34% of real estate firms had mostly modernized their systems, only 5% had fully adopted technology capable of seamlessly incorporating new digital tools. Meanwhile, 4% of companies admitted they fully relied on legacy systems, making it difficult to incorporate emerging technologies.

For proptech providers, this means working closely with real estate clients to ensure that new SaaS solutions can either connect with or migrate information from old systems or gradually replace them without disrupting operations.

Security is a top priority in the real estate industry that handles vast amounts of personal, financial, and transaction data. According to a report by Forbes, 40% of real estate firms struggle to adopt new technology due to concerns over data security. Security breaches can lead to reputational damage and costly fines, especially with the sensitive nature of tenant and transaction data involved.

SaaS providers can address these concerns by implementing robust data encryption, ensuring compliance with industry regulations (e.g., GDPR or CCPA), and providing clear transparency on data handling practices. The safer a solution feels, the more likely real estate companies will adopt it.

Here are some of the leading security cornerstones you should consider when developing your SaaS solution for real estate.

The Gartner’s API Strategy Survey reveals that 71% of digitized organizations use APIs provided by third parties, such as SaaS vendors. In the real estate sector, APIs like IDX (Internet Data Exchange) and MLS (Multiple Listing Service) are essential for ensuring accurate and up-to-date property data. These APIs allow SaaS platforms to seamlessly pull data from multiple sources, enabling real-time property searches, listings, and updates.

However, integration isn’t without its challenges. APIs often come with varying levels of documentation and support, which only add complexities to the implementation. Additionally, inconsistencies or downtimes in third-party API services can cause delays or inaccuracies in data retrieval. For example, mismatched data fields between the SaaS application and the API provider can lead to misaligned property details and frustrate your users.

To address these challenges, your proptech company should do more than just ensure compatibility with widely-used APIs by adhering to their standards. You must also monitor, test, and validate integrations regularly and implement fallback mechanisms to handle API downtimes gracefully. Building custom API layers that aggregate multiple data sources into a unified feed can also help you improve the reliability of your proptech solution.

In proptech SaaS, regulatory compliance isn’t just a box to check; it’s critical for building trust and ensuring your solution is viable long-term. Adhering to financial regulations like ASC 606 for revenue recognition and PCI DSS for payment security is essential to protect financial integrity, avoid legal headaches, and maintain transparency with clients and stakeholders.

You need to have a reliable software development partner to check all those boxes. That’s where Leobit can have your back.

At Leobit, we don’t just build technology for the real estate industry—we drive results. Our custom proptech applications are already used by over 1.5 million users, helping our clients complete $1.4 billion in real estate transactions. This success comes from our commitment to innovation and our deep understanding of what real estate professionals need.

We can help you build SaaS proptech software for:

• Commercial real estate businesses
• Residential real estate organizations
• Real estate finance organizations

Our expertise in proptech is recognized across the industry. We were named The Best Proptech Company of the Year by the 2024 Global Business Tech Awards (GBTA) and ranked as a Top Software Developer for Real Estate in 2023 by Clutch.

Leobit’s team stays ahead of industry trends, actively participating in events like the Proptech Summit and Racotech to bring our clients the latest insights and strategies.

As the real estate industry moves toward digital transformation, proptech SaaS solutions have become essential tools for companies wanting to stay competitive, enhance customer experience, and drive operational efficiency. However, given the fragmented nature of the market and the diverse needs of its many stakeholders, finding a ready-made solution that addresses all objectives is a significant challenge. This reality stresses the growing demand for custom software development to create tailored SaaS solutions that effectively meet the unique requirements of real estate businesses.

However, building successful SaaS solutions requires more than technical know-how; it demands a commitment to regulatory compliance, seamless integration with existing systems, and robust data security. At Leobit, we understand these challenges and bring proven expertise to the table. We provide software development services for startups, medium-sized companies, and enterprises within the real estate industry and beyond.

Whether you’re looking to develop new SaaS solutions from scratch or enhance your existing real estate software, contact us — we’ll help you stay ahead of the curve.