City & Docklands and Unlatch – a PropTech partnership that actually solves big problems

City & Docklands, the residential developer, has announced their partnership with Unlatch, the innovative new homes CRM, data analysis, sales progression platform and app.

Unlatch, overview

Unlatch is well-known as the PropTech platform that allows property developers and new homes specialist agents to centralise and administer the entire reservation and sales progression process across the new build purchase experience.

The PropTech platform allows updates and automated communications to multiple stakeholders which ultimately saves time, resolves uncertainty, and provides far greater efficiency and transparency than ad hoc manual systems.

What City & Docklands say about Unlatch

“As a high volume but quality focussed new homes developer we face the challenge of working at scale but with an uncompromising determination to offer exceptional service to our buyers as well as exceptional high-end homes,” says Gary Sacks, CEO of City & Docklands.

“When I was introduced to Lee Martin at Unlatch I must admit that I was sceptical of ‘yet another PropTech’ solution’,” Sacks continued.

“However, after extensive due diligence on the Unlatch product, in May of this year we took the decision to try it and have since seen huge benefits to our business. In particular, the data that Unlatch now provides to us as a management tool has been transformational in analysing activity and conversion rates to further improve the way that we operate. We also decided to add historic sold and reserved plots onto the platform in order to have precise data across all of our phases which of course helps when comparing current and future such as £psf, discount percentages, demographics, source of leads and sales rates.

Equally, our purchaser customers love the Unlatch approach to aggregating updates and comms into an automated process through our branded, white-labelled App which means that our operations team can completely rely on customer communications being taken care of properly, freeing them to focus on getting on with the completion of deals. We’ve added over 350 units to the Unlatch system now and we are already benefiting from an even better customer and team experience.”

City & Docklands, overview

Focusing on regeneration sites, City & Docklands deliver innovative and sustainable new homes across key growth areas in London, led by chief executive officer Gary Sacks who recently won Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2022 Props Awards, and is well known throughout the property industry.

To date, City & Docklands have delivered an impressive 2,654 homes across 17 developments, with an additional 4000+ under management.

They have also recently launched One West Point in Action, W3: a signature building of c. 600 feet in height which will aim to deliver 701 homes across four buildings with intricately landscaped gardens and courtyards – the pinnacle of 5* elite London living.

Lee Martin, Director and Head of UK at Unlatch, says: “There’s a clutch of PropTech being offered around the developer and estate agency sectors that seem to be solutions trying to find a problem to solve.”

“Yet, in Unlatch, the problem solved is a real one in that housebuilders and new homes agents have to contend with an archaic sales progression and legal process that is counterintuitive to customer satisfaction.”

Martin continues: “Our solution combines automated reservation agreements, slick sales progression, regular system sourced customer updates and useful data into one platform and app. I know the term is over-used, however, ‘game changing’ is exactly what this is.”

“Our platform was created by and for housebuilders and new homes experienced specialists and backed by AXA Venture Partners, where we can boast an average exchange timescale across the board of 25 days from agreeing a price with a purchaser, let alone from receipt of papers, against a UK average of 45 days.”

The good news: at last, a PropTech solution that actually solves big problems.