Dive Brief:
- VTS has released a software package that uses artificial intelligence to help commercial real estate landlords predict tenant demand.
- VTS 4 provides AI-generated insights from the VTS Demand Model, which sources and links more than 300 million data points across 13 billion square feet of space managed on the VTS platform, according to a March 26 press release.
- The model can predict tenant demand six to nine months ahead of leasing activity, allowing landlords and agents to identify prospective tenants three to four months before they begin physical tours, VTS said.
Dive Insight:
Demand for office space started the year at elevated levels, with a 27% year-over-year increase through February, according to data from VTS. This growth follows a trend of increased demand seen in the second half of 2023.
On top of rising demand, there is a shift in how businesses are searching for office space. Prospective tenants are touring 53% less space in person compared with pre-pandemic times, VTS Chief Strategy Officer Ryan Masiello said in the release. Moreover, tenants are browsing available spaces online three to four months before taking a physical tour. Anticipating such demand earlier can provide operators with a competitive advantage, according to VTS.
The launch of VTS 4 positions VTS as “the industry’s only source-of-truth for predictive demand data, providing a critical informational advantage in knowing which tenants will enter the market, marketing available space to them, and benchmarking performance against competitors,” Ben Brown, managing partner and head of the Americas for Brookfield Real Estate, said in the release. “With demand beginning to rebound, having a 360-view of the market with predictive analytics has never been more important for landlords,” Brown said.
The VTS Demand Model aggregates data from real-time supply and demand, market analytics, and pricing. It is the first VTS product that uses AI to synthesize industry intelligence, the company confirmed via email.
VTS 4 also marks VTS Data’s expansion into the London market, with users now able to directly compare office demand trends in New York City and London.
Users thus have options when it comes to using the data. “While [VTS 4] gives them the ability to visualize, filter, download and analyze the data themselves, our dashboards are set up in a way that generates actionable insights for customers to view and make better decisions regarding their portfolios,” a company spokesperson said in an email.
New customers have built-in access to the demand model, while current customers can upgrade to the new package, the spokesperson said.
