Will VTS and Similar Software Eliminate Leasing Brokers?

NEW YORK CITY—Backed by investors led by the technology investment arm of Brookfield Asset Management, with GLP, Tishman Speyer and venture capital firm Fifth Wall, VTS is aggressively investing in and expanding its software that helps landlords track and manage tenant leasing. It raised $90 million in a recent funding round in a record CRE tech venture financing. The company stated the funding will continue to deepen its current software capabilities, and accelerate the launch of its end-to-end commercial real estate leasing product Truva, which will go live later this year.

One real estate industry expert in the proptech space characterized the crux of the VTS software as providing owners the ability to do deals directly with the end users. “It’s about eliminating brokerage commissions. So, this is really bad news for JLL, CBRE, Cushman or other brokerage firms,” he said.

He explained with a hypothetical that if an owner can increase their net income by not paying commissions to brokers, the impact on the value of their portfolio would be much larger than just the dollar amount of commissions that were saved, because real estate is typically valued at a multiple of net income, called a cap rate. If a cap rate is 5%, each dollar of saved commissions increases the value of the portfolio by $20 dollars.

“If the real estate firm’s portfolio is worth $350 billion, and the firm increases net income by 6.0% by not paying commissions to brokers, the impact on the value of the portfolio would be $35 billion,” he said. “That’s why the big property companies are willing to invest big dollars up front. The software will dramatically reduce commissions. If I can invest $90 million in VTS and potentially make $35 billion in portfolio value from it, I would do that deal all day long.”

VTS allows pricing management where owners share information on rents. Through benchmarking, they can see what other owners are pricing. “There is no broker involved because it’s owners sharing that data,” he explained.

Companies like Brookfield have multiple people in buildings, including security guards and property managers. Once tenants get information online, they can directly visit the buildings. The company employees could show the property.

In a GlobeSt.com interview, Jonathan Kaufman Iger, the CEO of Sage Realty, the leasing and management division of The William Kaufman Organization, stated his company was one of VTS’s first customers. He opined while not eliminating the role of brokers the technology will be enough of a disruptor to change brokers’ jobs.

He said technology is the disruptor of the real estate industry. But he pointed out even with the flourishing of online resources like Trulia and Zillow, residential brokers continue to thrive.

Iger described the VTS software as “starting to provide tools to truly unlock data to make it unbelievably actionable for landlords and operators.”

VTS landlord clients pay additional fees for modules that provide information outside traditional brokerage services, according to Iger. For example, VTS can indicate whether the landlord is going to get a return on investment. The system tracks rents and TI costs, replacing more cumbersome record-keeping of deals on Excel spreadsheets.

But as to how it will directly affect brokers, Iger said, “Technology is making it more transparent and easier to find space. But that’s not the only thing that brokers do.”

On one end, he described a hypothetical with a broker taking a tenant to 10 spaces, trading paper on three or four, helping the negotiations and handing it off to an attorney—maybe staying involved in the negotiations for a couple more months. The broker finally receives a $500,000 check (gross payment), not from the client but from the landlord. “I think 99% of the time if the broker is truly being honest with you, they cannot say, ’Yeah, I provided $500,000 of value.’ That’s just the bottom line,” said Iger.

On the other end, he added if you’re JLL’s Frank Doyle with an 18-month assignment to relocate Deutsche Bank into over a million square feet of space, accounting for significant dynamics with their relocation, their future growth or contraction, and how they tie into base building systems, that clearly points to the advisor’s providing value.

Iger says VTS and similar technology will make brokers more service-oriented.

“They are going to need to provide financial analytics for tenants to make informed decisions on the terms of the lease that they sign,” he said. As an example of added value, Iger stated, “The broker can make sure that you’re asking the right questions to understand with how you operate your business if it’s the best building for you. It doesn’t and it shouldn’t come down to simple dollars and cents and whether I like the look of that lobby.”

The source who opined the software is more of a direct threat to brokers, stated JLL and CBRE are clients who also use the system—because the landlords who hire such firms require the brokers’ participation. However, Iger also noted brokers can use the VTS system as a tool to build tour books to show listings to tenant clients.

Brookfield did not reply to GlobeSt.com’s inquiry about the effect of VTS on eliminating brokers’ commissions.

However, Amy Millard, CMO of VTS provided the following statement to GlobeSt.com:

“Truva is designed first and foremost with brokers in mind. This marketplace is going to set brokers up for immense success by offering streamlined, real-time access to the leads and deals in their pipeline without even having to lift a finger. Furthermore, VTS is working with top tenant rep brokers in every market to build Truva.”