Leveraging BuildFax Data for a Competitive Edge in the Investment Process

BuildFax’s very own Chris Schaum spoke on a panel last week at BattleFin, a conference that connects data providers to investment firms looking to incorporate alternative data into their research process. One major theme rang true at the conference: alternative data will continue to transform the hedge fund space in the next five years. Firms that are not early adopters could face strategic risks and may be outdone by competitors that intelligently incorporate alternative data into their investment processes. In Schaum’s panel, he explored just that – how property history and condition data, which offers a unique insight into the real estate asset class — valued at more than $70 trillion — can provide investment firms and hedge funds with a competitive advantage.

Alternative data is central to finding edge in an increasingly over-saturated market across the board. Looking specifically at property history and condition insights, Schaum explored the ways in which BuildFax data touches sectors across the construction and real estate industries, from real estate investment trusts and home improvement companies to industry-relevant minerals like gypsum. Our database is constantly growing – at a rate of 1,000 property insights per minute – such that BuildFax doesn’t miss a beat when updates or changes occur on a tracked property.

While hedge funds can use BuildFax data to get a granular view of remodel activity by region, the data also allows a hedge fund to see the industry through a macroeconomic lens. With BuildFax’s high-quality data at their fingertips, investment firms have the capability to make confident decisions on the most currently available information without questioning the veracity of their signals.

Investment insights that can be pulled from BuildFax data include:

  • Residential remodeling activity increased by 30% since 2010.
  • Forecasting construction materials demand.
  • Key industry KPIs that inform a bottom-up investment approach.

Examining these trends in deeper detail could influence where building product manufacturers are seeing increases or decreases in demand, the speed at which homes are being repaired after a catastrophic event and a host of other business forecasting trends. Additionally, equity traders and portfolio managers can use this data to identify trends in core KPI’s of many publicly traded businesses, providing informed traders a competitive advantage.

BuildFax’s database of over 23 billion data points takes the guesswork out of property history and condition data, and provides high quality insights into one of the largest asset classes globally, valued at more than $70 trillion. For more information on how BuildFax property history and condition insights can help elevate your investment strategy, contact us today.