How to Build a Real Estate App: A Complete Guide

Today's real estate industry requires companies to undergo a complete digital transformation and modern digital solutions. Traditional approaches are no longer enough for business. Artkai, an expert in real estate software development, has analyzed the main trends and features of real estate software development for everyone, from owners to realtors and end customers. 

Therefore, our team, understanding the importance and value of the modern real estate industry, such as increasing sales and optimizing facility management for effective business operations, has prepared this publication.

The Artkai team's material contains insights built on many years of experience that will be necessary to create a quality real estate software solution. We will analyze in detail what types of real estate software are and by what parameters to choose for a specific business, outline the main advantages of the software for all parties to this process, and discuss market trends and the development process.

Main Types of Real Estate Apps

The real estate industry requires businesses to be flexible and create a primarily convenient and understandable process. Processes such as buying, selling, or renting require parties' responsibility and functions that are focused on certain categories. 

Starting from developers and ending with investors and tenants. To do this, you need to understand the main types of apps that fulfill real estate-related needs. 

Property Management Apps 

Such apps are relevant for residential and commercial real estate owners and those who develop and sell them. On a large scale, it will reduce the burden on administrative staff and automate routine operations. 

For service providers, developers, real estate agencies, and investment funds, the use of such software has several advantages: 

As a result, a methodology using the above functions can guarantee an organic business ecosystem to increase the liquidity of objects, scalability in a competitive market, and financial stability associated with the quality of internal processes. 

A ready-made example of such software is Buildium, where medium and large companies with many real estate objects can have tools for managing leases, maintenance, and a tenant portal. 

However, it's worth noting that off-the-shelf software can't be fully adapted to a business due to limited customization options, long training processes, and limited integration. 

Real Estate Investment Apps

These specialized platforms help to analyze the market and manage an investment portfolio. 

The main features of such apps are: 

Property Analytics Apps

Analytical apps are among the most relevant for developers, property business owners, and investors, as they contain comprehensive market analysis with projected profits and property valuation. AI, ML, and Big Data algorithms are mainly used to fulfill these requests. 

The main capabilities and benefits of this type of application include: 

Implementing analytical applications is relevant for real estate agencies, commercial real estate companies, developers, and venture capital funds. Such companies must systematically optimize sales and asset management processes, strategically plan development processes, and reduce risks. 

Marketing and Advertising Brokerage Software 

Specialized solutions of this type are designed to enhance the company's brand and build optimized advertising costs to attract customers. 

The capabilities of Marketing and Advertising Brokerage Software include: 

Property Search Apps

Regarding property search, the main applications for tenants and buyers are Property Search Apps. The main functions of this type of application are:

Considering these factors before creating a customized solution will guarantee optimized search processes, improved conversion, increased leads, and other competitive advantages for businesses. 

Real Estate Marketplaces 

Real estate marketplaces, such as Roofstock and Doorsey, can offer functionality for searching for properties and managing transactions related to commercial and residential real estate. 

However, they may not have the functionality you need for your specific business, so customised solutions can provide more advanced features tailored to your business's needs. 

For example: 

By investing in a customized solution, developers, investors, and agencies receive a technologically complete tool that will significantly simplify their business's object management and customer interaction. 

Mortgage Calculator Apps

This software application is useful for potential property buyers, banking institutions, and financial advisors. They can fully estimate monthly mortgage payments, down payments, interest rates, loan terms, and repayment types. 

For businesses, this includes key opportunities that can be linked: 

For businesses, this importance is realized through increased conversion from potential customers, improved user experience, and increased brand awareness. After all, it is not just a payment platform but, above all, an important strategic part of an effective sales process. 

When choosing the type of Real Estate App for further development, it is worth defining strategic goals and whether they can be achieved through the implementation of off-the-shelf solutions or platforms. Suppose a ready-made solution cannot cover all the aspects and nuances of your real estate business. In that case, you should include the IT consulting stage, as it is necessary for companies with a product but want to take it to the next level. 

Based on many years of experience, the Artkai team can say that consultation is an important strategic stage that will mitigate possible risks, provide a full understanding of the technical side of the business, and recommend further stages. 

In one of our publications on Tech Consulting Services, we explained in detail how technical consulting can improve a product and bring results. 

Benefits of Real Estate Apps for Buyers, Sellers, and Real Estate Agents

Apps and programs for managing real estate and the processes of its construction, purchase, and sale unite three main categories of users: sellers, buyers, and real estate agents. It's also worth noting that each category has different capabilities, which we'll discuss below. 

Benefits for buyers

Easy access to property details

A modern buyer expects easy and quick access to detailed information about properties. To fulfil this request, we integrate with MLS, banking APIs, and mapping services to provide potential clients with full access to each property's profile. 

The complete profile should include: 

Such functionality in real estate apps can significantly speed up the decision-making process and reduce the number of ineffective client visits. 

Single app for resolving all claims 

If you look at the real estate market process from the traditional point of view, it takes quite a few stages and time. Real estate software development should combine all these stages into a single system, eliminating the need for numerous intermediaries. 

Thus, the functionality of modern real estate software solutions can include: 

Comparison tools that save time 

To implement this, custom real estate software needs to contain several key parameters: 

Therefore, for the buyer, this is some of the basic data that will guarantee a complete understanding before making an essential investment and a rational and logical decision. 

For modern construction companies, real estate app development should become, first and foremost, a guarantee of quality for years and a brand, as it is clear that many clients drop out at the first stages of interaction due to poor communication. 

Benefits for sellers

For sellers, real estate businesses are among the most profitable, so real estate app development in this niche can offer many prospects, which we will consider in detail: 

For this purpose, real estate apps should include IoT solutions for monitoring objects' condition, integration with payment gateways for a smooth process, and CRM systems for sales analytics and lead management. 

Benefits for real estate agents 

In property management, the quality of service and communication with the client audience are among the most essential parts. As the competition grows, real estate agents must use custom software with advanced technologies and operational efficiency to save time for other vital processes. 

Therefore, well-designed real estate software with centralized access to the necessary data can significantly increase the productivity of real estate agents. 

Thus, this will result in better and more complete processes and high business efficiency for agencies. 

Of course, real estate app development is based not only on the benefits but, above all, on a high-quality and complete development process. It is worth noting that only custom software will fully meet business needs, unlike a ready-made solution, which will either have unnecessary functions that you need to overpay for or may not be able to integrate the necessary functionality. 

Step-by-step real estate app development process

Let's look at what a full-fledged custom real estate software development should include for your business to bring the expected results and prospects. 

Requirement Gathering

For further real estate app development to succeed, at the initial stage of work, you need to study competitors, a set of problems the application should solve, and market analysis with its strengths and weaknesses. 

When creating the SoW and the project roadmap, you need to outline the main functionality of the real estate software and its application and the main direction of the product.

For example, it can be a platform for buying, selling, and renting, CRM for a real estate agency, software for investors, or Property Management Systems, and many others, depending on the specific request. 

Next, you need to choose the main set of functions that will cover the needs of the real estate industry's users or employees. 

Planning and Design

Two equally essential parts can be distinguished at the planning and design stage: the functions and the design part. The functionality may differ from off-the-shelf solutions because the advantage of developing a custom real estate software solution is an adaptation to the client's actual needs. 

Therefore, depending on this, we can identify the main functions of the software that should be included in the further design part: 

Note that the above functionality can be expanded depending on specific project goals, budgets, etc.

Part of the design process involves the team creating prototypes and wireframes of application panels and building the elements directly. Their main goals are convenience and clarity of use in compliance with UX/UI principles and high conversion. 

The main profiles of a successful app include the construction of convenient search filters, visually relevant elements such as video reviews and interactive maps, and an intuitive registration and login process without unnecessary text and visual clutter. 

When all design components are ready and agreed upon, the finished material from Figma or another tool can be handed over to the development team for implementation.

Development

Real estate software development requires technical specialists to integrate the back and front ends, follow the logic, and use the appropriate technology stack. 

Below, we present the primary set of technologies that can be used to develop real estate apps. Note that the final stack should be tailored to the specific enterprise and meet the business logic and specific technical requirements of your enterprise and may differ: 

Backend component

Frontend component 

Mobile development includes native and cross-platform technologies. You can use React Native or Flutter for faster development and easier maintenance, or Swift (iOS) and Kotlin (Android) for maximum efficiency and access to system APIs. 

We would like to emphasize that real estate business processes require a lot of processing of information, sensitive data, and other real estate operations, so a high-quality technical component should facilitate this process, not slow it down. 

Testing and Quality Assurance

After the development stage, custom software undergoes testing and quality assurance (QA). This is necessary to guarantee stable operation, software performance, and compliance with security standards. 

High-quality QA should include several test levels: modular to check components, integration to evaluate interaction, and functional to test capabilities.

After that, the performance testing part should simulate a high load to identify potential errors. Security testing is also needed to detect XSS attacks and API vulnerabilities. 

Deployment and Launch

When the testing stage is completed, the web version of the real estate software solution with a mobile application is prepared for deployment. For this purpose, servers are configured, data migration can be performed if necessary, and the infrastructure is configured. 

In addition, logging and monitoring systems are implemented, and if a mobile application exists, optimization for the App Store and Google Play is prepared. Part of the official launch includes a control audit to check and be ready to eliminate inaccuracies.  

Support and Maintenance

The development details may not end after the launch, as it may be necessary to update and implement new features in the future and monitor stability. 

Also, support aspects include: 

It is essential to understand that when the main stages of development are met, the final product is a productive, competitive, and fully functional product for property owners or real estate businesses.

2025 Trends in Real Estate App Development

Integrating new technologies into even existing custom real estate software requires constant inclusion. This way, you can gain a competitive advantage in the market and optimize work.

Therefore, if your current software does not meet your needs even partially, it is worth starting the path of modernization. 2025 will be a progressive year in the real estate apps niche, so there are several main opportunities to realize the potential of your business:

AI

Artificial intelligence is now at the peak of trends because its integration is understandable from a technical and practical point of view. It has many advantages: improved user interaction, analytics, faster data processing, and automated management.

There can be many ways to implement artificial intelligence technologies directly:

This will ultimately provide not only convenience but also, above all, high competitiveness, which will be based on unrealistic indicators and metrics.

IoT

Such an approach will allow the real estate niche to control important development parameters remotely.

From a practical perspective, the application of these technologies looks like this:

Therefore, IoT automation in the real estate niche can be both technologically advantageous and comfortable for the client.

In one of our recent publications, IoT Trends to Drive 2025,  the Artkai team provided a complete overview of the IoT market and highlighted the most important trends worth observing.

Virtual Reality

VR integration today is not just a trend but a practical tool for better working with customers. Therefore, adhering to this digital tool when working with potential buyers can increase customer engagement and operational efficiency.

In practice, VR has many advantages:

Therefore, this approach can provide new, broader opportunities for attracting a client segment and significantly optimize sales.

To understand the importance and value of implementing real estate software development, it is necessary to pay attention to the practical side of this process and what it will result in.

Success Stories of Our Clients

Since the Artkai team understands the importance of various factors in making such an important business decision, we created a selection of Top 6 PropTech Solutions Built for our Clients, where we presented our six best projects for the real estate industry and showed the actual results of our development for clients.

Now, let's dwell on some cases in detail: 

Real Estate marketplace

Our specialists created and launched a fully user-oriented real estate platform in 6 months, which solved many of the goals of real estate agents and potential buyers, which we described in detail in the Real Estate marketplace. This is Prop.ly, a mobile application for selling real estate in Singapore, which provides transparency in choosing agents on a single platform.

Thanks to the application, users could easily compare commission rates and terms of cooperation and, as a result, get the best option for themselves.

The project's goal was to collect in one place all the information needed to analyze, optimize, and launch advertising campaigns effectively. Our team, understanding the project's specifics, chose a comprehensive approach. 

Which included: 

In the application's structure, we created an administrative panel and a CRM system for the marketing part. The results confirmed our expectations and those of the customer. The application helped real estate sellers find an agent five times faster, and its average rating was 4.8 stars.

StayNest – Vacation Rental Platform

The booking platform StayNest was created so the client audience could quickly and seamlessly book the desired accommodation according to the selected parameters. At our client's request, the rental market should be accompanied by a more comfortable and high-quality service. Therefore, our team was tasked with updating and modernizing the existing platform. 

The main focus was on making it easy and convenient for people to find suitable accommodation according to the selected parameters and manage the entire process from booking to check-out. 

To implement the strategy, we identified a set of key project objectives: 

As a result, our team managed to create a platform that was able to meet many needs and has:

Also, after launch, the project gave relatively high indicators:

45% increase in booking percentage, 2 times higher host retention rates, and 90% user satisfaction rating Thanks to a successful approach and established communication with the client, we created a high-quality and convenient product that delivers excellent results and UX.

Conclusions

For our team, implementation, and real estate software development are not just challenges but another opportunity to evolve with modern niche trends and provide high-quality customer service. After all, we understand that modern property managers and agencies are also reaching a new level and need custom real estate software.

If you are looking for a reliable partner and new promising opportunities to develop your business, our specialists can offer you our experience and real estate app development capabilities.