Ian Kaufman, senior vice president and chief accounting officer of Equity Residential (NYSE: EQR), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITwise: 2018 Law, Accounting & Finance Conference in Hollywood, Florida.
Kaufman predicted that artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to play an important role for Equity Residential. He noted that the REIT has been using some aspect of AI for more than 10 years, starting with revenue and yield management systems.
“We’re probably on the cusp of things really starting to change in the real estate industry and multifamily is definitely part of that,” Kaufman said.
Equity Residential uses AI to improve decisions, operations and interactions, Kaufman said. AI can be used to mine data and find patterns regarding tenant behavior, he noted. It can also be used to power smart home technology and the integration of business systems.
Kaufman noted that the airline industry has been a key source of knowledge for how to implement AI into the business model.