Regulation, the next necessary step to give certainty to the proptech sector

The startup industry proptechcompanies that provide technological solutions for the real estate industry, has grown rapidly in Mexico, since it is considered one of the countries with the greatest potential in Latin America, so the regulation to provide legal certainty to the market is becomes a primary need.

In a meeting with the media, Andrea Rodríguez, founder and general director of the business platform Proptech Latamexplained that, at the beginning of 2022, 1,300 firms of this kind were registered in Latin America, of which 140 operate in national territory, being the country with the second highest penetration in the entire region.

Given this context, Mario Quintanilla, Institutional Relations leader of the real estate marketplace Loft, remarked that it is necessary to create and standardize instruments that regulate the sector to guarantee the safety of final consumers and company transactions.

According to the specialist, the Mexican Association of Real Estate Professionals (AMPI) has worked on regulatory proposals for this purpose, however, some interests have hindered their approval.

“This regulatory capacity is needed to be able to share data between companies and governments, as well as to digitize procedures, such as those of the Public Registry of Property. AMPI has been promoting it, but it has not gone through certain particular interests,” Quintanilla commented.

first attempts

Although there are some attempts to regulate the real estate market, the Loft manager remarked that industry players must come together to consolidate these initiatives.

Quintanilla explained that there is a Law for the Provision of Real Estate Services in Mexico City, however, it does not have a regulation that supports it and, therefore, it does not operate.

“Having it would be a way to regulate the sector proptech. This lack of regulation interests us a lot to give more certainty to the market, ”he added.

Another of the instruments that could be a first step in regulating technology companies in the real estate sector is NOM 247, which came into force in September of this year with the aim of establishing guidelines for marketing in the real estate sector. the House.

“It is an interesting regulation because it takes into account misleading advertising, sales contracts and tries to prevent fraud, but we are definitely several steps behind what we should,” Quintanilla concluded.