Fifth Wall co-founder and CEO Brendan Wallace.Courtesy of Fifth WallA version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Property Play newsletter with Diana Olick. Property Play covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, from individuals to venture capitalists, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and large public companies. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.As with much of the real estate industry, property technology, generally defined as the use of tech and software to make real estate and property management more efficient, took a big hit in recent years. Higher interest rates, a capital market retraction and a push by almost all venture capital into artificial intelligence collectively hit property tech hard. While there is, of course, some AI in property tech, it hasn’t been enough to really drive interest in a sector that has historically been extremely slow to modernize. “I’d say we just lived through probably the most challenging three years that certainly I’ve ever experienced,” said Brendan Wallace, co-founder and CEO of Fifth Wall. “You saw a lot of companies and new businesses and venture funds die. We just lived through an extinction event.”Fifth Wall is a venture capital fund managing over $3 billion in capital, the largest investment firm focused on technology for the built environment.Get Property Play directly to your inboxCNBC’s Property Play with Diana Olick covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, delivered weekly to your inbox.Subscribe here to get access today.Wallace said the winter is over for property tech, citing last year’s IPO of ServiceTitan, a cloud-based field service management software for trades such as HVAC, plumbing, electrical and landscaping. The company raised about $625 million in its initial public offering, and shares jumped 42% in their Nasdaq debut. Wallace also noted new unicorns, such as Juniper Square and Bilt, which bode well for the future of property tech investing. Bilt, a platform offering loyalty rewards for housing, raised $250 million in July at a $10.75 billion valuation in a funding round led by General Catalyst and GID, including a strategic investment from United Wholesale Mortgage. “The amount of enterprise value destruction that happened to prop tech was unprecedented from 2022 to 2024, but the amount of enterprise value creation that has just happened in the last 15 m …
