UK Government Allocates Additional £4 Million to Propel Proptech Sector

The UK government has unveiled an additional £4 million allocation aimed at fostering the development of the proptech sector. This brings the total investment in technological advancements for residential and commercial property to £13 million since 2021.

During the announcement, Housing Minister Lee Rowley reflected on his early career experience at Halifax Property Services in Chesterfield. Rowley, who started as a ‘Saturday boy’ at the branch, reminisced about the absence of technological infrastructure such as proptech during that time.

Halifax’s venture into estate agency ceased in 2010 when its 284 branches were acquired by LSL for £1. Fast forward to the present, Rowley now oversees governmental expenditure on property technology. At The London Proptech Show, he highlighted the UK’s prominence in the proptech landscape, ranking as the largest sector in Europe and the second-largest globally after the US. With approximately 900 firms offering services and technology, Rowley expressed confidence in the sector’s potential to quintuple in size over the next eight years, projecting a value of £70 billion.

In line with this vision, Rowley announced a supplementary £4 million injection into the Government’s Proptech Innovation Fund. This fund has previously supported numerous local authorities in streamlining the new homes planning process.

The decision to increase funding arrives amidst ongoing criticism of the UK’s sluggish and bureaucratic planning system, which has been attributed to the persistent housing shortage.

However, reactions to the announcement at the London Proptech Show were mixed. Ani Kotecha from the UK Proptech Association described the additional government funding as “a drop in the ocean” compared to the substantial investments pouring into proptech from private investors.

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