The uberisation of housing markets: putting theory into practice. Issue 2 (18th April 2017) - Sharam, Andrea
Abstract : Purpose: Digital disruption offers an innovative opportunity to address housing affordability issues through the use of market design theory and two-sided matching markets. The purpose of this paper is to scope a model for how "uberisation" can revolutionise the traditional apartment delivery model in Australia, leading to improved housing affordability. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses semi-structured interviews with operators of online real estate platforms and deliberative developers to examine how the principles of "uberisation", that is two-sided matching markets, are driving innovation in the apartment supply process. Findings: Findings confirm that real estate internet platforms and deliberative developers innovators are informed by the benefits of aggregating demand to reduce development risk, thus enabling apartments to be provided at a substantially lower price than by traditional methods. Research limitations/implications: The number of interviews is small reflecting the limited number of market actors currently engaged in the innovations investigated. Originality/value: This research is innovative as it introduces theoretical understandings gained from market design theory and applies those concepts to disrupt the apartment development process.