Press Release

  • JLL is partnering with CSIRO-backed start-up Digital Agriculture Services (DAS) to deliver new proptech desktop assessments for agricultural property 
  • Will deliver quicker, cost effective value assessments for lenders, investors and portfolio monitoring, based on a combination of Artificial and Property Intelligence. 
  • Supports growing demand for increased risk and regulatory compliance
  • Delivers in-depth insights on the drivers behind rural real estate performance

 

MELBOURNE, 2 September 2019: JLL and rural technology company Digital Agriculture Services (DAS) have announced a partnership to prototype and fast-track a new desktop assessment solution for rural-specific real estate.

The JLL-DAS Rural Desktop Appraisals solution is being developed in Australia and JLL is believed to be the first property company to provide this service within the region.

The solution will combine the ‘Property Intelligence™’ and expertise of JLL’s team of valuers across Australia with the DAS Rural Intelligence Platform™ to provide desktop based estimates of farmland, agricultural and rural property market values, at any point in time.

The solution combines data, analytics and rural ‘PropertyIntelligence™’ from JLL and DAS to deliver a market-leading, desktop assessment service, giving Australia’s big banks as well as new lenders an independent, fast and cost effective alternative to internal or external valuations.

The first-of-its-kind partnership also enables lenders to originate and separate mortgage loans and valuations more efficiently and transparently, without the cost of sending a valuer to physically inspect a property. Assessments are completed by JLL valuers, combining the power of machine learning and AI with the ‘PropertyIntelligence™’ of qualified professionals.

The on-demand, same-day assessments are specifically engineered for rural real estate.

JLL’s Managing Director, Mortgage Services – Australia, Bart Mead said: “Proptech is not just changing residential or commercial real estate – it’s also transforming rural real estate. This new service will speed up the process of valuing or re-valuing agricultural land remotely, delivering complete, compliant appraisals that are cost-effective, create more choice and improve customer service for quicker mortgage and investment decisions.

“This service adds to JLL’s suite of proptech products currently in the market and is part of a continued agribusiness expansion for JLL in Australia,” said Mr Mead. “Put simply, we are delivering a solution that no one else is bringing to the rural appraisal segment.”

DAS CEO Anthony Willmott said that while real estate was the world’s largest asset class, the process of valuing farmland can take weeks, with rising appraisal costs.

“Putting an accurate value on agriculture and farmland property is core to our economy, and we are combining advancements in technology, big data and AI with JLL’s property intelligence, deep experience and unmatched service and quality with advancements in technology, big data and AI to create a completely new solution underpinned by unique data-driven insights.”

“We capture thousands of data points including a year-over-year analysis of the productivity, climate, crop type, land use and drought impact of any agricultural land in Australia, helping simplify the friction-fraught process of assessing the risk and sustainability of agricultural land.”

JLL and DAS said the on-demand service is also designed to increase universal access to cost effective and fast assessments for farmers, amid concerns that the rising regulatory cost of valuations will be passed onto farmers.

Mr Willmott said the technology had global potential. “Technology’s impact on the real estate industry is increasingly exponential and JLL is a recognised leader in digital transformation and proptech.”

While some companies have been providing banks with desktop valuation solutions for residential properties for years, the market for digitised appraisal offerings in in agriculture – an $58 billion asset class – is still nascent.

About Digital Agriculture Services
Digital Agriculture Services is a rural technology company that has built the first, complete Rural Intelligence Platform™ for Australian agri-analytics. We deliver an incomparable experience to companies across the agribusiness ecosystem in service of the Digital Agriculture Services mission: to deliver the most reliable rural intelligence available. Founded in 2017 in partnership with CSIRO, Digital Agriculture Services is based in Melbourne, Australia. Learn more at https://digitalagricultureservices.com/

About the DAS Rural Intelligence Platform
The DAS platform, which is currently offered on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis, combines machine learning and cloud-based geospatial technology to deliver reliable, independent and robust farm data and analytics. Independent data from trusted CSIRO and government sources is integrated with purpose-built, proprietary analytics on different land attributes, ranging from water access, productivity, yield, land use, crop type, rainfall and more – into one, easy-to-use database. Machine learning algorithms make sense of the data with a clarity that wasn’t possible before, while an AI-led, industry-first Rural Automated Valuation Model (AVM) is bringing further objectivity. All this enables a multifaceted assessment of any agricultural asset.

About JLL
JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management. Our vision is to reimagine the world of real estate, creating rewarding opportunities and amazing spaces where people can achieve their ambitions. In doing so, we will build a better tomorrow for our clients, our people and our communities. JLL is a Fortune 500 company with annual revenue of $16.3 billion, operations in over 80 countries and a global workforce of over 91,000 as of March 31, 2019. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit jll.com.au

Contacts
Sarah Gorman / Anthony Willmott


Phone: 0439 577 637

 

Email: sarahg@dasintel.ioanthonyw@dasintel.io

Bart Mead


Phone: 0411 073 501


Email: bart.mead@ap.jll.com