November 6, 2024

Tricia Oak

Business & Finance Excellency

Real estate technology ETF targets evolving industry

Real estate technology ETF targets evolving industry

Exchange-traded fund issuer ETF Managers Group is betting big on real estate technology as the industry leans more into mobile technology and new apps to serve customers. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
HHH ETF MANAGERS TRUST ETFMG REAL ESTATE TECH ETF 16.24 -0.25 -1.49%

The ETFMG Real Estate Tech ETF offers investors exposure in global technology companies looking to digitally transform the real estate industry and optimize the way consumers research, rent, buy, sell and manage properties. According to ETF Managers Group, the property technology sector received $9.5 billion from investors in 2021. 

BITCOIN MINING ETF SEES STRONG START

The fund, which launched in October and trades under the ticker symbol HHH, includes 36 different companies and has over $1.8 million in assets under management. The ETF is down about 15% year-to-date.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
Z ZILLOW GROUP INC. 55.71 +1.16 +2.13%
BEKE KE HOLDINGS INC. 18.45 -0.81 -4.18%
ABNB AIRBNB INC. 152.00 +1.96 +1.31%
REA n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.
BKI BLACK KNIGHT INC. 53.71 +0.53 +1.00%
CSGP COSTAR GROUP 58.58 +5.08 +9.50%
RKT ROCKET COMPANIES INC. 11.11 +0.03 +0.27%
OPEN OPENDOOR TECHNOLOGIES 10.13 +0.91 +9.82%
RTMVY RIGHTMOVE PLC 16.335 -0.23 -1.36%

Its top 10 holdings include Zillow Group, KE Holdings, Airbnb, REA Group Limited, Black Knight Inc, Costar Group Inc, Rocket Companies Inc, Opendoor Technologies Inc., Scout24 SE and Rightmove.  

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS

Jesse Stein, the head of real estate at multi-asset investment platform Republic, told FOX Business that while the residential real estate market has seen a ton of transaction volume in response to the shift to remote work during the pandemic, the technology being used to support those transactions is “still very much antiquated.” 

He noted that the current time between researching and identifying a home to closing a transaction on it can typically take between two and three months. Meanwhile, Zillow Group, the largest stock holding in the fund, has estimated that moving costs can add between $26,000 and $40,000 of extra expense on an average priced home.

“The time and the cost to transact in real estate is not too dissimilar than it was many decades ago,” Stein said. “These companies are coming in and looking to disrupt that process, make it more efficient, make it cheaper for consumers. And because real estate is such a huge industry, there’s such a great opportunity for these companies to do so.” 

In order to streamline the moving process, Zillow recently announced plans to build a so-called housing super app. Zillow CEO Rich Barton said during the company’s latest earnings call that approximately 6.1 million existing homes in the U.S. changed hands in 2021, with about 4.1 million of those homebuyers using Zillow’s website and apps.

Housing-related transaction fees were a roughly $300 billion industry in 2021.