10 of the best apps for residential developers

Aprao

A development appraisal tool which allows residential real estate companies to appraise development opportunities up to 85% quicker with more accuracy, consistency and efficiency.

LandInsight

Off-market sites have less competition – meaning lower prices and better margins. Set search parameters, like location, size and use class, then spin up a list of potential deals ready to be made. Use local sold price data to know what a site is worth before you pay for it – and what it could be worth once you’re finished. Search in a radius, or hand draw an area for the exact results you need for accurate estimates.

Nimbus Maps

Buy and sell property at the right price using the sales values comparables in Nimbus Maps. You can view detailed information on properties that have sold within a custom date range, including price paid data and links through to listings. Instantly view all planning applications in your search area with the Planning Overlay, or use the Planning Export to filter applications by keyword, application status, agent, date and more.

VU.CITY

Planning is going digital and, more specifically, visual. Map-based plans are the future and VU.CITY is the UK tech success story that has been carving this niche for several years. Most London boroughs use its 3D models for assessing plans. The digital city visualiser is now expanding rapidly around the UK and Ireland. Expect adoption of digital planning tools such as this to be a condition of application more widely before too long.

Crowd Property

Recently surpassed the £100m lending mark, but this is more than just a crowdfunding development lender. The firm’s analytics, data and expertise provide developers with an easy way to assess and gain feedback on their project within 24 hours, acting as a second pair of value-adding eyes. This can help small developers choose the right project to invest their time undertaking, or pass on without too much sunk effort.

RealPage

Market analytics that allocate yields automatically to asses a new opportunity. Pinpoint drivers of submarket momentum and individual asset forecasts with greater granularity and accuracy. Optimise the performance of your portfolio with operational and financial insights, benchmarking and scorecarding.

GBuilder

Streamline specification of your development by bridging between the buyer’s desires and the developer’s materials. Allows for greater customisation of the finished product without the inefficiency of endless emails, Excel and paperwork to keep track of choices.

RenKap

Public sector landowners put land details in, a project team from a pre-approved supply chain takes them out and makes the development happen, using off-site production. This Geovation accelerator graduate founded by ex-Arcadis man Gonzalo Marquesini has only been trading 12 months but has won repeat business from councils and housing associations, impressing sufficiently to secure one of the government’s Innovate UK grants to go more fully to market in its second year.

Placemake.io

Deep tech – the sort you need a PhD to understand –  has not entered the mainstream of real estate yet but gets those in the know very excited. Imagine leveraging AI-led signals to help decide where and when to buy, hold, or sell assets. Placemake has many fans among private equity and investors, having created data programs that forecast capital and rental value and growth, uncovering patterns and signals to understand the market. The ultimate goal of AI becoming more commonly used for sifting through data is to optimise site selection, portfolio allocation, acquisition and disposition strategy, and lease and tenant strategy.

ARGUS Developer

Handles development costs and cash flows from project inception to delivery. Through modelling, forecasting, management, analysis and reporting functions it supports strategic and informed decisions, allowing developers to maintain control over risks and returns. As a cloud-based offering it enables greater collaboration and streamlines workflows on projects across teams and business functions by storing all information in one central location.