AI Future Takes Centre Stage as Proptech Forum Hailed a Huge Success

Proptech Australia’s 2025 Proptech Forum – hosted in Melbourne for the first time – has been hailed as a success, exceeding expectations for attendance and creating deep engagement on its theme,  "Navigating an AI-Enabled Future."

The forum proved its status as the most significant annual conference on the Australian Proptech calendar. It was held at the new event space of the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV).

More than 160 people attended the main forum day, showcasing the intense demand for practical, deep-dive knowledge on Artificial Intelligence and how it relates to the real estate sector.

The strong engagement was evident across all related activities, too. The exclusive Domain and REA Group “satellite events” held the previous day were sold out, and the briefing on environmental standards by Cecille Weldon was also well attended.

The lively evening showcase, "Pitch in the Pub," attracted more than 50 attendees at the legendary pub, The Cherrytree Hotel in Cremorne, Melbourne – the heart of Melbourne’s proptech community. 

The competition was won by the promising compliance-focused startup TracIT.

Moving Beyond the Hype into Practical Strategy

Opened by Jacob Caine, the CEO of the Victorian Real Estate Institute, the Forum set a serious and focused tone. The discussions centred not just on the technology, but on the crucial social and technology impacts of Artificial Intelligence.

The program successfully moved beyond the hype to provide attendees with practical knowledge. Sessions cut through the noise to discuss:

• Agentic AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) in development.

• New protocols and ethics that govern innovation.

• The essential demands of change management as AI becomes increasingly embedded in business operations.

  
  

Attendees benefited from insights delivered by a star-studded line-up. Keynote speakers included Futurist Tim Duggan (Editor-at-large, Junkee Media), Michael Scutt (AI Lead, Google Cloud), Volker Rath of Cloudflare, Carolyn Trickett of JLL Spark, Sett Watts of Prepared and Proptech Australia President Kylie Davis.

Panel spotlights tackled the most critical issues facing the sector:

• Navigating the Challenges of AI: Insights from leaders from Wayscape, Nimo Industries, Repit.

• The Future of APIs & Integrations: featuring leaders from MRI Software, REA Group, and REIP.

• Big New Data: an essential discussion on new data sources that will provide the opportunity for unique insights and applications with experts from Little Hinges, Downsizer and Cotality.

• How AI is Solving the Housing Crisis: Led by Dr Sarah Bell of MRI with colleagues from Australian Centre for Housing Research - University of Adelaide, Australian Institute for Machine Learning and Red Beard Consulting.

In a particularly memorable and moving session hosted by Tom Ellis, the Founder and CEO of Realtime Conveyancer Kylie Dillon shared her inspiring and candid story as a startup entrepreneur.

Proptech Australia President Kylie Davis said: “The Forum continues to build a strong following among our members and other proptech entrepreneurs. We are delighted that taking the event to Melbourne has been so well received. I’d like to thank everyone for their attendance.”

She added; “We are also grateful to our fantastic sponsors. Their support for the Forum and the association in general is critical to our continued success.”

Proptech Forum was proudly supported by Gold Sponsor Domain, plus Cloudflare, Cloudstaff, Pendo, Australian Land Registry Services (ALRO) and the Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV).