Eight major German investors agree on new data sharing platform

Berlin-based proptech company Architrave has taken a major stride forward by signing up eight leading German commercial real estate and asset management companies to develop a common open digital strategy.

The deal was concluded at the first REDS (Real Estate Data Summit) event which took place in Berlin earlier this month. The companies agreeing to promote a common digital standard are CommerzReal, Credit Suisse, Deka Immobilien, DWS, ECE, Patrizia Immobilien, Union Investment and BEOS.

As a first step the partners will agree on the catalogue classification format for different classes of documents, standardised for all participants with the purpose of facilitating easier transactions across the industry. Further details are expected to be agreed upon over the coming months, followed by a major push to gain acceptance of the agreed-upon standards by broad swaths of the industry, including the main brokerage groups.

According to Architrave, the initial agreement also identified further use cases for common data structures, such as the transfer of information for property listings for asset sales. The participating companies commited to engage in dialogue with the real estate brokerages, to provide all information in machine-readable format – all with the goal of reducing transaction costs, improving transparency and providing more access to relevant information.