Making informed home decisions with innovative data is transforming the way the real estate market operates. Data Hunters chats with Malcolm Cannon of Quantarium on how AI and computer vision are transforming the real estate industry.

The use of many data points, ranging from historical pricing and trends to property ownership information, is nothing new. However, the data we use to make housing decisions has become more complex. Property values are provided by Quantarium's valuation algorithms, which use a self-learning AI engine. Quantarium's innovations in Computer Vision (CV) technology are allowing AVM to break free from past limits; understanding their path and the influence of AI is crucial for the future of real estate.

Quantarium is a market leader in the production and distribution of value-added data in residential real estate. Their data and analytics scientists and specialists shown remarkable ingenuity in their approach to establishing the industry's premier RE data lake, so receiving this honour is a team-wide confirmation. Cannon explained the possibilities of this space when asked: "Residential real estate in the United States is worth $45 trillion in total. Furthermore, homes are the most important and significant investment/asset for the majority of families. As a result, dependable, intelligent, timely, accurate, and accessible real estate data is critical not only to this sector but to the entire economy. PropTech, as the business has been dubbed, is a thriving industry, and we're excited not only to be a part of it, but also to help other players tell their story."

Quantarium's product and customer journey provide an intriguing glimpse into how artificial intelligence is being used in real estate. They began with an idea and ended up developing the industry's leading Automated Valuation Model, AVM, which continues to break the tape in the AVM race. They used their skills and experience to create a Data and Search platform for real estate that is driven by the industry's most extensive data lake. They may power any industry that uses residential real estate data, from mortgage companies to banks to insurance, by stressing the platform part.

In the data industry, there is a lot of debate over the merits of technology versus people, ranging from the benefits of consistency and efficiency to the decrease of bias in housing pricing and access. When asked about this, Cannon stated that, despite being an AI company, Quantarium has never been exclusively technocratic: "We, like everyone else, would underline the undeniable value of human understanding in all aspects of society, including this critical sector of the economy. The debate is frequently presented in binary terms, which we reject. We see growing confidence in the category of hybrid valuation products as evidence that the industry will benefit from, and work towards, an equipoise in understanding both the methods and instruments through which human wisdom and tasking are best applied and those areas in which machine learning technologies can be most advantageous."

Cannon recognised the significance of applying this knowledge in this specific field of technology, which is why Quantarium's Translucent A.I. is embedded in their Valuation Services Platform (QSVP) as a human-assisted and enhanced technological asset. It was designed in this manner on purpose. Quantarium's translucent A.I.-based solutions enable an auditable line of sight to provide the best platform for expert human input integration, if needed, to achieve the best results possible. In truth, this should be expected; for example, most electronic aeroplanes and spacecraft still have manual controls for takeoff and landing. AVM is now breaking free from past limits in other domains, such as Quantarium's developments in Computer Vision (CV) technology. These AVMs are approaching the point where they are unable to recognise property condition or look inside the structure in order to account for value changes other than assuming a static coefficient of average condition for the year built. Furthermore, the authenticity of Quantarium's CV can detect and delete tenants' images and other symbols that may be humanly perceived to imply racial or ethnic identities, thereby introducing unjustified subjectivity in the valuation or QC process.

Having said that, Cannon felt it was vital to elaborate on the problems of AI in tackling bias. "At the end of the day, understanding the challenge for AI to assist in reducing bias will be required. Certain axioms persist, most notably that every technology is only as good as the data on which it is based. Quantarium is very aware of this. As a result, it recognises that models rely on trailing data, and that data has unavoidably saturated within, whatever earlier human biases contributed to distorted valuations. With this information in mind, Quantarium refrains from making any claims regarding AVMs reducing valuation bias — it is deceptive, and eradicating this will require more than simply technology. Can it be useful in addressing the problem? Yes, and Quantarium is making considerable R&D investments with the goal of supporting the industry in addressing the problem."

There is certainly evidence of racial bias in real estate. However, while technology is frequently regarded as a neutral "tool," the data on which it is based is biassed. As a result, real estate data suppliers will need to undertake a lot more work to uncover and eliminate bias, and AI will play an essential role in this process. Quantarium has already invested in R&D in this area.

Cannon is now looking ahead, pondering his vision for Quantarium in 2022. Quantarium, like all businesses, has had to react to the realities of a Covid economy and the influence it has had on the global business climate. Despite this, they can focus on strong tailwinds like Machine Learning, Computer Vision (CV), and Data Innovation. These tailwinds are in high demand because they will have a greater impact on the future of both commercial marketplaces and the regulatory environment. Furthermore, Quantarium has created a name for itself in various aspects of this market, and as a result, we are lucky to have a network of amazing professionals across the business, especially in the rapidly developing PropTech space. Cannon then explains that their vision is "to provide our rapidly growing customer adoptions with innovation and rapid deployments of proficiency technologies ranging from our new Computer Vision APIs and Valuation services to our Smart Market ExplorerTM within the Quantarium TerraVerseTM to assist our customers in navigating the industry challenges ahead.

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