Artificial intelligence is everywhere right now. Should we fully embrace it or completely distrust it?
It shouldn’t be that extreme.
AI isn’t here to replace relationships, instincts, or experience. It’s not walking on a property, reading a room, or building trust. And it definitely can’t negotiate like a human.
So… what can it do?
- Remove friction
- Summarize extensive data in seconds
- Organize and display scattered data
- Draft emails and organize some notes — get us 90% there
In case you didn’t see it, the overarching theme is that it’s saving you time. That’s where the value is!
Not in replacing people, but by giving them back time.
The best brokers will leverage AI (and technology as a whole) to get more time in their day. Then they’ll use that extra time to get more deals, service their clients better, build stronger relationships.
More personal calls, better proposals, more time business planning & strategizing.
The best use of AI isn’t something broad or flashy, it’s something invisible. Something that you don’t even have to think twice about because it makes your day just that much smoother.
So while the hype around AI in CRE is everywhere, the value is still in the air. And I argue the goal is simple:
AI that’s actually useful. AI that supports real workflows and decisions without getting in the way. The future of AI in CRE isn’t about doing everything, it’s about doing a few things really well, quietly, and reliably.
Charlie Coppola
AI in Commercial Real Estate in 2026
Artificial intelligence is rapidly gaining traction in commercial real estate, but even as firms experiment with its ability to streamline work, industry leaders say it is far from replacing the human relationships that drive deals.
“Technology tends to be a little bit slow to adopt in commercial real estate, whether that’s because people see it as an expense and not as an investment, or they’re just used to their process that they already have,” Adam Siegel, vice president of product growth at Crexi, tells GlobeSt.com.
That dynamic is shifting as AI sparks interest rarely seen in the sector.
“But I’ve never seen any technology come along in the last 13 years that has been so asked about in the industry like AI has,” Siegel adds. “It seems everybody’s looking for … that magic thing that’s going to make the light bulbs go off and make their life easier, and I think everybody’s trying it.”
So far, much of that experimentation is centered on efficiency. AI is proving useful in handling repetitive, time-consuming tasks—everything from building Excel formulas to parsing large data sets—freeing brokers and investors to focus on higher-value work.
“It stands for artificial intelligence, but really for me it stands for abundant intelligence. What that means is that I can have a conversation that goes beyond Google and really get true work and output done through agents, through Claude, through ChatGPT,” Siegel says.
“A lot of people are starting at the basic level, where it’s, ‘Hey, can it write a formula for me in Excel?’ Maybe they’re using it to help them understand data that they have. I think that’s where the time savings are coming in, and I think long term it’s going to start to automate some of the repetitive processes that brokers and investors do on a regular basis to save them time to work on the more important things.”
Those time savings could have broader implications across the industry. By accelerating data analysis and underwriting, AI has the potential to reduce reliance on large teams and give more limited investors access to tools that were once restricted to institutions.
According to Siegel, tasks that traditionally required “an army of analysts and … army of property managers and asset managers pouring over every number” can now be handled more efficiently, allowing firms to avoid spending “hundreds of thousands of dollars in manpower.” At the same time, larger organizations can redeploy staff toward more strategic priorities.
Even with those gains, the core of brokerage remains unchanged.
“Brokerage is a relationship business,” Siegel says. “No one hands over a $5 million or $10 million or $20 million asset to an AI agent to sell. They want to know who they’re talking to.”
That reality is shaping the adoption of AI across commercial real estate. Rather than replacing brokers, the technology is emerging as a support tool—one that enhances productivity but still depends on human oversight and expertise. Interpreting data, structuring deals and building trust with clients remain firmly in the human domain.
As adoption expands, the distinction is becoming clearer: AI may transform how work gets done, but it is not displacing the people responsible for getting deals across the finish line.
