Using technology in real estate has become the need of the hour as realtors are depending more and more on real-time data to navigate the housing market. Given the advances in information technology in the last few years, there are certain property software and APIs that are designed specifically for real estate agents. To help you guys know more about these technologies, Graana.com, Pakistan’s smartest property portal, brings you the list of the top real estate APIs used in the market.
What Is a Real Estate API?
Application Programming Interface (API) is a set of programming codes that enables data transfer from one platform to another. It allows websites and applications to use each other’s data and functionality through an interface.
Let’s assume that you’re booking a flight via an online travel service that gets all information from airline databases. When a user selects different options like departure date and cabin class on the travel service, it communicates with the airline API to get all the relevant information. The airline API takes the request and sends back information such as available seats, fare and luggage options to the online travel service, which shows the result to the user.
These APIs work in the same way in real estate. Depending on their needs, real estate professionals can use different APIs to get property-related data instantly from Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Real estate professionals can use this data to provide their customers with reliable and up-to-date information.
Why Are Real Estate APIs Used?
Basically, real estate is an information business where you need to gather and manage all property-related data to make faster and smarter decisions. The primary role of the API in real estate is to provide certain kinds of information to real estate investors and agencies so that they get updated and relevant data on the market situation efficiently.
If you’re in a real estate business and looking to generate more website traffic and boost sales, then these APIs are great for your business as you will be able to retrieve data with speed and agility.
Best Real Estate APIs
While there are many APIs for extracting all housing and rental-related data, we have shared a list of some of the best APIs that real estate agents and companies can use below:
Mashvisor API
Mashvisor API is a real estate API for getting more insight about rental rates for both short and long term listings. It provides information like property address, construction date, climate situation etc. about the real estate property you’re looking for.
With the API heatmap feature, you can find the best properties to invest in the chosen area. The developers have made this API specifically for investors so that they are able to calculate the expected ROI.
Estated API
Estated is another popular real estate API that offers data of over 140 million properties across the US. You can get information about taxes and ownership of different residential and commercial properties.
Just like Mashvisor, Estated is developed for real estate professionals to get more insights about properties. It can help them to improve their workflows and get more leads to boost sales.
It is easy to integrate and you receive valuable data in just a short amount of time.
Google Places API
Google Places is like a directory for real estate listings that are collected by Google. This API is used for adding a new place to Google Maps. You can search for different places in the specified area and request more information about it. However, this API isn’t free and you need to pay a subscription fee for integrating it on a website.
Zillow API
Zillow is considered the best real estate marketplace in the US. Thanks to its various tools and features, users can find a range of housing and rental options on the website. Zillow has developed the API for users to get a valuation of the listed property and market trends of the area.
It monitors the changes in prices of real estate in an area to calculate the monthly payment of the property. It is free to use and you can easily integrate it on a site.
Walk Score
Walk Score is another impressive platform for developers to integrate into real estate websites and apps. With this platform, you can measure walkability from one address to another.
For instance, you can use it to analyse the walking distance (and different routes) from your property to local amenities. It also shows the walking and transit score of the location. This API is free and you can easily implement it on a site within a few minutes.
Many real estate agents and companies are moving towards digitalisation as it allows them to streamline their daily tasks. With these APIs, realtors can collect data and process them to predict any changes in the real estate market.
To read more about the latest technology trends in real estate, visit our blog at Graana.com
