The biggest challenges facing Australia and New Zealand’s proptech sector are no longer technical. They are human.
That is the central finding of the inaugural Proptech Pulse 2026, one of the most comprehensive surveys of the trans-Tasman proptech ecosystem ever conducted.
The Proptech Pulse 2026: The Adoption Edge was released by PropTech CoLab, an independent platform advancing property technology across Australia and New Zealand. It captures the views of 146 proptech leaders surveyed between March and June 2026, with 76 per cent of them at chief executive, founder or owner level.
The findings point to a single structural shift. Cloud infrastructure, modern data tooling and capable AI have made software faster and cheaper to build than at any point in the sector’s history. As a result, the competitive edge has moved from what companies can build to whether they can get it adopted, integrated and trusted.
Change management and training effort was the most cited barrier to adoption at 42 per cent, well clear of integration difficulty (25 per cent) and budget constraints (25 per cent). Almost three in four proptechs (73 per cent) said they must connect to a customer’s existing systems often or almost always to deliver any value at all.
And in the year AI has dominated every industry conversation, founders ranked it well down their priority list. Winning new customers was the top priority for the year ahead for 72 per cent of respondents. Just 18 per cent chose building AI capability.
PropTech CoLab Co-founder, Board Member and Research Lead Peter Schravemade said the report set out to find, with evidence, exactly where the sector’s competitive edge had moved.
“For a decade, the hardest question in property technology was whether you could build the thing at all. That constraint has collapsed,” Mr Schravemade said.
“When the cost of building falls sharply, the winners are not those who build the most. They are those who get what they build adopted, connected and trusted.
“The hardest problems founders tell us about are not technical anymore. They are about people. Helping a busy office change the way it works, connecting to the systems customers already run, and staying credible as the rules tighten.
“The data is presented in full and without flattery. Where the sample is thin, the report says so. Where a finding cuts against the prevailing narrative, it gets more space, not less. That is the standard this sector deserves.”
The report also lands at a revealing regulatory moment. Australia’s AML/CTF tranche-two reforms took effect on 1 July 2026 and are well on the sector’s radar, with 75 per cent of respondents aware of the changes.
The response is two-speed: those actively building compliance capability (43 per cent) outnumber those monitoring and waiting (24 per cent) nearly two to one.
On artificial intelligence, the market’s mandate is augmentation, not replacement. Almost two thirds of respondents (65 per cent) rated human oversight of AI a four or five out of five, and not a single respondent rated it unimportant.
PropTech CoLab Co-founder and Board Member Antonia Mercorella, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ), said the findings would resonate strongly with the real estate profession.
“Ours is an industry built on relationships, expertise and confidence. Trust underpins every successful transaction, and it is equally critical to the adoption of new technology,” Ms Mercorella said.
“The message from the market is clear: customers want greater automation and efficiency, but they continue to value human oversight and accountability. We need solutions that keep people at the centre while leveraging technology to improve outcomes.
“The Proptech Pulse marks the beginning of an important conversation across Australia and New Zealand about the opportunities, challenges and commercial realities shaping the future of proptech.”
The Proptech Pulse 2026 was launched at Top of the Props, Australia and New Zealand’s boldest proptech pitch showdown, held in Brisbane on Wednesday 15 July.
The full report is available at proptechcolab.com.
Key findings at a glance
- Adoption is a human problem, not a technical one. Change management and training effort
(42%) tops the list of adoption blockers, and the strongest confidence builder is a pilot that
demonstrates value (55%). - Interoperability is the operating system of value. Almost three quarters (73%) must connect
to a customer’s existing systems often or almost always, and 76% say common industry data
standards would make adoption easier. - The market wants automation with a human in the loop. Two thirds (65%) rate human
oversight a four or five out of five, and not one respondent rated it unimportant. - A two-speed compliance response. Three quarters (75%) are aware of the AML/CTF
tranche-two reforms, and active responders (43%) outnumber the monitor-and-wait group
(24%) nearly two to one. - The energy-data whitespace. Most (70%) are aware of government moves toward residential
energy-performance ratings, yet 49% have no plans to support energy-efficiency information
and only 3% already do. - Distribution is the edge, not the build. Winning new customers is the top priority for 72%, four
times the 18% who name building AI.