Property experts open analytics to new markets

Dutch realtor association NVM enhances real estate analytics with SAS® Viya® open architecture

Real estate markets are prone to fluctuations. Especially in the Netherlands, where surging house prices are weighed against strict housing regulations and rent caps to form a complex picture of the real estate market on any given day.

For Dutch real estate brokers, the key to understanding the market lies in data and analytics. But with so much information available, navigating the data without assistance can be difficult.

The Dutch Association for Brokers and Real Estate Experts (NVM) supports more than 4,100 affiliated brokers and appraisers in this pursuit, along with its technology arm Brainbay. “With our information products, our members can analyze market developments down to the building level, which gives them a big competitive edge,” says Henk Poldervaart, Data and Research Manager at Brainbay.

Starting with SAS Visual Analytics

NVM and Brainbay have used SAS Visual Analytics since 2013 to supply Dutch real estate professionals with a range of self-service reports for understanding market trends. Because brokers don’t come from research backgrounds, NVM collects and crunches the data behind the scenes to present members with a clear view of local market conditions and the ability to run ad hoc reports.

The platform also enables brokers to benchmark their performance against other offices. By comparing metrics like the speed, price, type and quantity of units sold, brokers can analyze the competition to inform pricing decisions and sales strategies.

“Without any intervention from us, brokers have the desired insights at all times,” says Poldervaart. “Feedback on the platform has been extremely positive, and usage is steadily growing because people realize that ignoring the data is a real missed opportunity.”

SAS Viya opens world of opportunity

NVM recently upgraded to SAS Visual Analytics on SAS Viya to increase efficiencies and improve the customer experience. For years, the company used SAS Visual Analytics as a standalone product to serve information. But breakthroughs in open source integration compelled the organization to upgrade to SAS Viya.

“Accessing the data and calculations by APIs opens up a world of opportunity for us,” says Marco Uitendaal, Project Manager at Brainbay.

Ease of access is benefit No. 1, says the company. Previously, members had to log into a portal on NVM’s website to access the information. With the migration to SAS Viya, members will soon be able to access the data and reports in new ways, thanks to public REST APIs that allow content created in SAS Visual Analytics to be used in other applications.

“The API layers of SAS Viya will allow us to integrate the analytics into our members’ existing dashboards,” Uitendaal says. “This will improve accessibility of the data while maintaining a consistent look and feel of the previous environment.”

Open source integration offers more options

Easier data access for members is one reason for the upgrade. Another is the open architecture of SAS Viya that enables researchers at Brainbay to enhance reports by integrating open source calculations into the platform – something they previously couldn’t do.

Open integration also helps with hiring, Uitendaal says. “Now I can hire analysts skilled in R or Python and let them loose to build something for us on the SAS Platform.”

SAS Viya improves data visualizations as well. Because NVM serves a niche market, it wanted the ability to provide members with customized visualizations. SAS Viya allows open source JavaScript visualizations in reports, enabling the company to publish branded, industry-specific visualizations – giving members the most relevant information possible.

“We’re no longer limited to the default visualizations in SAS Visual Analytics,” Uitendaal says. “Delivering information in a more specific way will only improve our platform and increase customer loyalty.”

Opening new revenue streams with SAS Viya

With the migration to SAS Viya complete, Brainbay is shifting focus to extend the power of SAS Viya to the members of NVM. The rollout will mark a significant step for fledgling company Brainbay, which has big plans to use the platform to expose new revenue streams.

In the past, sharing the data through prepared reports wasn’t economically viable. SAS Viya changes this. Soon the property experts will have the ability to share data with different types of organizations, effectively transforming their business model to selling data licenses instead of report licenses. This could open up new market segments – banks, journalists and public sector agencies – that could also benefit from property data.

“Openness is very important for us strategically,” Poldervaart says. “The openness of SAS Viya will allow us to deliver information in a more strategic and efficient way. If your business is like ours, definitely go for SAS Viya.”