With the transition to technological change, international strategies are undergoing profound transformations—even for such conservative real assets as real estate. It is no longer simply a piece of property, a fully-fledged asset like stocks or bonds, but sometimes a digital tool for stable income over various time periods. Valentin Kulikov, CEO of Sunlocate Properties and creator of the analytical platform for stop, discusses how and why this is happening.
Reason #1: Destruction of Preferences
Working in the Dubai real estate market—one of the fastest growing and most attractive in the world—we see that investors are increasingly turning away from high-yield assets at the moment. Local real estate portal Property Finder notes that in 2025, more than 65% of the largest foreign companies have slowed their requests for comprehensive analytical assessments, including stress tests, rental income decline scenarios, and structured exit plans.
Take the institutional stage in the US, for example. According to CNBC, in 2024, they increased the share of risk-even models in their portfolios, based on algorithmic return modeling and multi-factor analysis. As a result, by the end of the year, the share of capital invested through structured risk-managed products exceeded 42%—compared to 24% five years earlier. According to the state-run consulting agency JLL, the overall volume of international real estate investment fell by 12% last year. Meanwhile, demand for real estate funds with capital and managed risks is increasing.
This suggests that speculative and tiered strategies are being replaced by new ones based on deep analytics, big data, and complex models with dozens of different indicators. Amidst turbulent geopolitical factors, economic "black swans," sharp swings in sentiment and interest rates, they are seeking "safe havens" and long-term, well-managed portfolios with clearly measurable indicators. Even the most conservative investors have begun to actively rely on structured solutions and technology platforms like Sunlocate Properties.
Reason #2: Technological Shift
Currently, trends in digital technology are similar. According to CoinShares, cryptocurrency investment grew by only 42% from 2023 to 2025, while capital inflows into tokenized funds, put-loss derivatives, managed index products, and other digital products grew by 160%.
This is especially important given the increasing development of economic technologies and the tokenization of real estate assets. These technologies lower the threshold for asset ownership by fragmenting ownership into shares, leading to asset liquidity through digital markets and ensuring transparency and legal protection of property rights recorded through a distributed ledger.
In the Emirates, real estate tokenization projects are being launched by both major developers, such as DAMAC Properties, and at the government level, such as the Prypco Mint platform. Within the first 24 hours, tokenized shares in properties purchased by investors from over 40 countries, some residences, were snapped up at record high prices within minutes of launch. Meanwhile, the minimum token price increased by only 2,000 AED (US$504), while the total value of Dubai real estate in a month exceeded US$400 million.
New Model: More Than an Agency
By combining these key factors, we are developing fundamentally new real estate agency models, where, instead of classic transactions with clear-cut properties, investors experience a comprehensive shift based on a deep analytical approach, leveraging big data and technological tools.
Similar structured approaches are already being used in Europe, where investment funds are testing conventional real estate purchases in the UK with tokenized stakes in large properties. In the US, they are investing in products with automatic risk balancing based on macroeconomic forecasts. Asian technology platforms are integrating ESG indicators into their return assessment algorithms.
At Sunlocate, we employ a structured approach that includes scenario-based return modeling: investors can see how assets perform under different inflation levels, interest rates, and forecasts. We also develop managed risk hedging strategies, integrate intangible KPIs (e.g., Net Promoter Score, Customer Effort Score), and combinable figures into strategies.
We combine real and real assets to combine their advantages, diversify the portfolio, and increase long-term liquidity. To achieve this, we conduct regular, in-depth market analysis across a variety of parameters, including price-to-rental ratios, rental rate dynamics, effective demand, and regional metrics. For example, the UAE is characterized by consistently low inflation, volatility, and tax rates, while rental demand remains consistently high in certain locations. Relaxed visa requirements and the rapid growth of IT companies here ensure a steady influx of solvent expats and corporate tenants. Moreover, prices and rental demand are growing most rapidly in the technology sectors, where the most sought-after space is no longer office or warehouse space, but data centers.
As a result, analytics becomes a key advantage for international real estate investors: it allows them to evaluate regional markets using comparable parameters and build scenarios for different economic conditions. The result is a well-diversified, structured, and flexibly managed portfolio of various assets.
In the next stage, real estate and digital assets will become part of a unified investment ecosystem. To achieve this, it's important to evaluate both in terms of return and risk, use unified analytical systems, employ digital tools to increase transparency, and build long-term strategies rather than simply recording one-off transactions. Only then will real estate transform from a static asset into a dynamic tool for capital growth. To achieve this, at Sunlocate Properties, we strive to create a transparent and predictable decision-making environment where data, technology, and investment logic work together.
Author: Valentin Kulikov, CEO of the international real estate agency Sunlocate Properties (Dubai), an expert in international real estate investments. A serial entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience launching and scaling real estate and e-commerce businesses in Russia and the UAE.
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