This week’s Inman Tech Roundup covers Lofty’s new monthly index, which tallies how much time its AI saves agents, a $1.65 billion October for proptech funding, Airbnb’s early-2027 launch window for its AI travel agent and Zillow Preview’s new home inside RealScout.
Here’s what you need to know:
Can AI time savings be measured? Lofty is trying
Lofty is launching the Lofty AI Index for Real Estate, a monthly report tracking how much time its AI tools save real estate agents. The inaugural edition found Lofty AI products, including Lofty Cowork, completed 1.13 million tasks in October, saving real estate agents 131,248 hours.
Joe Chen
The index counts tasks Lofty’s AI completed, such as follow-ups, social media posts, homeowner check-ins and CRM updates, then estimates how long each would take an agent to do manually.
Among the findings: 387,824 leads got an AI follow-up text or email; solo agents saved 30 percent of their hours on daily planning; and agents in Michigan saved more time than any other region.
“Every AI vendor touts the time-saving nature of their AI product, but almost none of them show the data to confirm that what they say is true. We decided to cut through the smoke and mirrors around AI results and create measurable clarity with the Lofty AI Index. Each month we’ll put a number to the AI impact, show the calculations and stand behind it,” said Joe Chen, CEO of Lofty.
The time-saved figures rest on the company’s own estimates of manual task times, and the release doesn’t say how many agents are behind the totals, which makes per-agent impact hard to gauge. Since this is the first edition, there’s no prior month to compare against yet.
What this means for agents
For real estate agents weighing AI tools, Lofty’s index is a step toward the kind of hard numbers the industry has been missing. It gives them a benchmark to press other vendors on when they make time-saving claims.
However, the most useful measure is their own: tracking whether hours freed up by AI actually turn into more conversations, listings and closings.
Note: Lofty is the official AI partner of Inman.
Proptech funding hits $1.65B in October
Proptech companies raised about $1.65 billion across 34 funding rounds in October, according to the Center for Real Estate Technology & Innovation (CRETI), which called it one of the strongest months of 2026.
The money was heavily concentrated. Construction and development took roughly $872.4 million, or 52.8 percent of the total, while residential pulled in $604.4 million, or 36.6 percent. Three deals alone accounted for nearly 75 percent of October capital: Bedrock Robotics’ $600 million Series C, Unlock’s $433.1 million debt financing and ICON’s $200 million Series D.
Debt was a big part of the story. About $588.6 million, more than a third of the month’s total, came through debt rounds. That includes Unlock’s financing for its home-equity agreement platform and CrowdProperty’s roughly $133.5 million round for residential development lending.
That means much of October’s residential funding didn’t go into software at all but into financial products tied to home equity and property lending.
CRETI noted that funding signals investor conviction, not proof of ROI, and said the bar for founders is rising to show a credible link between their technology and a material financial outcome.
What this means for the real estate industry
The numbers suggest investors are betting less on new real estate agent-facing software and more on the expensive, physical end of housing, such as building homes faster and cheaper and financing the transactions around them.
If that capital pays off, the bigger impact on agents and brokers may come indirectly, through more housing supply and new ways for homeowners to tap equity, rather than through the tools on their desks.
Airbnb sets early 2027 launch for its AI travel agent
Airbnb plans to roll out its AI travel agent to consumers in the first half of 2027, the company said in its third-quarter shareholder letter, firming up a timeline it had previously pegged only as sometime in the next year.
Brian Chesky
Instead of a text-heavy chatbot, the AI agent will assemble a custom interface around each guest’s request, pulling from hundreds of travel-specific components such as maps, photos, comparisons, calendars and itineraries. It will also handle post-booking tasks like reservation changes, refunds, rebooking and payment issues, which Airbnb argues outside AI agents can’t easily do.
CEO Brian Chesky told analysts that general-purpose AI agents are fine for routine tasks but not for trip planning.
“Travel is aspirational,” Chesky said. “Discovering where to go and where to stay is part of the experience.”
The announcement came alongside a strong third quarter for Airbnb. Revenue grew 19 percent year over year to $4.87 billion, beating Wall Street estimates. Airbnb raised its 2026 growth forecast to the high teens, up from the mid-teens. Chesky called it the company’s fastest revenue growth in more than three years.
What this means for the real estate industry
Airbnb’s bet is one real estate portals and brokerages are weighing, too: that owning the search experience and the transaction behind it beats handing consumers off to general-purpose AI agents.
If a custom, visual AI agent wins over travelers, it’ll strengthen the case for real estate platforms to build their own AI home-search tools rather than relying on outside chatbots to send them buyers.
Zillow’s Preview finds a new channel
RealScout is now showing Zillow Preview listings from hundreds of participating brokerages in its collaborative home search platform, putting pre-MLS inventory in front of buyers searching with their own agents.
Andrew Flachner
The integration, first announced in September, extends Zillow Preview’s reach beyond Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com to RealScout’s network of more than 100,000 agents.
Preview listings appear in client searches and listing alerts that include Coming Soon properties. Buyers can message their agent directly about a home, and each Preview listing is replaced by its MLS listing once the home goes active. Agents and brokerages don’t need to opt in to see eligible listings.
RealScout CEO Andrew Flachner framed the move as a transparency play, with a not-so-subtle shot at private listing networks.
“Listing transparency comes down to whether a buyer can choose the agent they trust without worrying that the right home is hiding behind another brokerage’s velvet rope,” Flachner said in a statement. “With Zillow Preview listings from hundreds of brokerages now available in RealScout, agents can give their clients more of the market through the home search experience they already share.”
What this means for agents
For agents, the integration means clients can see pre-MLS listings from participating brokerages in the search tool they already use, without signing up for Zillow or leaving the agent relationship. It also gives buyer’s agents an earlier look at upcoming inventory, which matters most in tight markets, where a few days’ head start can decide who gets a showing first.
