The firms winning in CRE right now don’t have better data than their competitors. They have better judgment about what to do with it.
Historically, having the right information was an advantage. Brokers who knew the comps before they were published, owners with a read on off-market demand, operators who understood where a submarket was heading before it showed up in a report, these were the firms that won. Good data was hard to get, and having it first made a real difference in who closed certain deals and who didn’t.
That edge is changing. By mid-2025, 92% of CRE firms had already started AI pilots, according to JLL. The market data, underwriting inputs, and tenant insights that once required the right networks to access are now available to anyone with a subscription. Data is no longer the key differentiator.
Which means the firms still competing on who has more data are focused on the wrong thing.
The Gap Between Access and Advantage
Research from CRETI and V1 Ventures has made this clear: the next wave of competitive advantage belongs to firms that pair high-quality data with AI and embed it directly into their day-to-day work — underwriting, asset management, leasing, and risk analysis. Not the firms with the most data. The firms that use it strategically and efficiently.
CRETI’s own survey data shows where most firms are stuck: about half are running AI pilots, but only a small number have rolled AI out across the whole business. Even fewer say their data is in good enough shape to support it. The gap between running a pilot and actually deploying AI at scale is where the real separation between firms is happening right now.
This distinction matters more than it might seem. A pilot is a test. Deployment is a commitment to clean data pipelines, to workflows that reflect what the tool surfaces, to a team that trusts the output enough to act on it. Most firms are still at the test stage, which means most firms are not yet getting the competitive benefit they think they are.
Intelligence Has to Be Operational to Matter
A dashboard no one checks isn’t intelligence. A model that runs once a quarter isn’t a decision tool. The firms pulling ahead are the ones that have built analytical tools directly into the leasing workflow — so that the people making decisions have what they need in the moment, not weeks later in a report.
Think about what that actually looks like in practice. A leasing team that receives a demand signal in real time and can act on it the same day operates fundamentally differently from one that reviews a monthly report and adjusts strategy at the next team meeting. The data might be the same. The outcome won’t be.
This isn’t theoretical. Across more than $3 billion in assisted leasing transactions and 125 markets, a consistent pattern emerges: the teams that close more deals aren’t always the ones with access to better data. They’re the ones whose workflows are built to act on it. When a leasing team spots repeated engagement from a single firm, sustained interest from a specific decision-maker, and responds the same day, the conversion rate looks fundamentally different than a team that catches the same signal two weeks later in a recap report. The intelligence was identical. The outcome wasn’t.
That gap between having a signal and acting on it is where leasing velocity is won or lost right now.
What It Takes to Close That Gap
Platforms built specifically for CRE leasing are making operational intelligence more accessible, integrating across hundreds of data sources, surfacing prospect engagement and broker reach in real time, and continuously optimizing toward leasing outcomes so teams can prioritize their time and move on the right opportunities sooner. The technology handles the data-heavy, time-consuming work. The leasing team still makes the call.
But technology alone doesn’t close the gap. It takes organizational commitment, clean data, real integration, and a team that trusts the output enough to act on it consistently. That’s harder to build than a pilot, and it’s also what creates a lasting edge. Anyone can buy access to the same platform. Not everyone builds the discipline to use it well.
The Starting Point
The practical move isn’t a full overhaul. It’s one honest question: is the intelligence your team already has access to actually embedded in how decisions get made day to day, or is it sitting in a report somewhere?
If it’s the latter, that’s the gap worth closing first. Identify one workflow: broker engagement, prospect tracking, demand monitoring, and pressure-test it. Ask what it would look like if your team had better signals, earlier, and a clear process for acting on them. Build the habit there. Then expand it.
That’s how pilots become infrastructure. And right now, infrastructure is the competitive advantage.
