McVey said she wants to open up Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) data so that UK PropTech firms can obtain information including energy performance certificates and the square footage information of properties.
Would-be buyers could also potentially calculate commute times for properties.
The housing minister floated ideas including a national index of all brownfield data to simplify and improve the Brownfield Land Registers, helping developers to find sites more easily.
Further, technology could be enabled that lets the public view models and interactive maps of planned developments and comment on planning applications online.
“We’ve had revolutions in the way that financial services, online banking and transport are provided, turning once unimaginable possibilities into everyday realities,” McVey (pictured) said.
“The UK property sector is on the cusp of a digital revolution. It’s time to harness new technology to unlock land and unleash the potential of housebuilders in all parts of the country and to revolutionise the way in which we buy homes.”
Public sector land
Founder and chief executive of Stone Real Estate, Michael Stone, said: “Any initiative to open up land supply and provide greater transparency within the house building process should be welcomed. We’re building 200,000 new homes a year nationally, but the reality is that we need to deliver 300,000. That deficit that needs to be addressed.
“There’s an ironic reality that while the government has failed to bolster house building, a very real solution remains right under its nose.
“Swathes of untapped land that could be used to develop and deliver more homes are largely controlled by the public sector,” Stone said.
