‘Defining moment’ as VTS launches lease benchmarking tool

In a major breakthrough for sharing data among the normally guarded property world, companies using VTS software will now be able to choose to compare their performance against their peers.

The US lease management software firm, which entered the UK a couple of years ago, will use data gathered from billions of square feet of client portfolios, anonymised and presented in fields such as operational, financial, and supply and demand metrics.

Providing the anonymous leasing data to VTS for MarketView is entirely voluntary and opt-in. The majority of VTS customers have already opted to participate.

VTS said it is able to provide accurate transaction metrics as they occur, and unlike self-reported data obtained by surveys, VTS MarketView is based on actual real-time leasing and transaction data.

The software will enable customers to compare property level performance on rent, concessions, leasing velocity, deal conversion rates, and many more. The rich leasing benchmarks will early indicators of opportunity and risk across client portfolios.

In the future, VTS MarketView will lever machine learning and data science techniques to provide predictions and recommendations for maximizing asset value. All benchmarking metrics are built from a non-identifiable, aggregated, and anonymised data set.

Nick Romito, CEO, VTS said: “VTS MarketView will make it easy for VTS customers to make real-time leasing and investment decisions based on the most accurate and up-to-date benchmarks available in commercial real estate. This goes far beyond market reports, the data and insights will be embedded in their workflow and presented in context to drive better decisions. ”

The VTS platform is used to manage 8bn sq ft of commercial real estate and a user base exceeding 28,000 and boasts a client list that includes Beacon Capital, Blackstone, LaSalle Investment Management, Hines, Boston Properties, JLL, Knight Frank and CBRE.

Kevin Danehy, global head of corporate development at Brookfield Properties, a VTS customer, said of the new service: “We are always looking for ways to improve our client tracking and overall analytics capabilities, and the company’s new offering looks likely to be a valuable and forward-thinking addition to the VTS platform.”

Adam Hasting, managing director of Hines, added: “As competition in our industry increases, it’s critical for our team to continue to manage our portfolios in an exceptional way. Having access to real-time benchmarking data is central to this – not only will it allow us to accelerate the rate at which we can make important decisions, but will immediately give us even more confidence that the decisions we’re making are the right ones. This is a defining moment for our industry and we’re thrilled to be a part of it.”

VTS MarketView will be made available in limited beta to select VTS customers beginning in late 2018, with full availability anticipated in early 2019. Pricing for VTS MarketView will be announced as it is made generally available.