Industry benchmarks for PropTech and Real Estate Software
PropTech recovers CAC in roughly 11 to 12 months, reflecting long sales cycles into brokerages and property management firms. CAC runs $2,500 to $7,000 per account including field sales, conference presence, and the 3 to 6 months it takes to get an operations team to change systems. ARPU sits at $300 to $900 per month on per-door or per-seat pricing, at 68 to 78 percent margin after integrations, data licensing, and implementation support, with monthly churn of 1.5 to 3 percent. At $4,200 CAC against $396 in monthly gross profit, payback is 10.6 months.
Per-door or per-unit expansion is the LTV engine, because a property manager who adds units grows your revenue automatically without any acquisition spend. Deep integration with the MLS, accounting, and existing property management stack is what makes that expansion stick, since switching cost rises with every connected system and every year of historical data. Transaction-based revenue is cyclical and tied to interest rates, so blend it carefully with subscription revenue rather than treating it as recurring. Segment payback by account size, because a 40 door landlord and a 4,000 door operator have almost nothing in common economically.
Frequently asked questions
CAC Payback Estimator for PropTech and Real Estate Software, answered.
Should implementation fees offset CAC?
Only the portion that exceeds your cost to deliver implementation. Most onboarding fees roughly break even, so treating them as CAC recovery overstates payback speed.
How do interest rates affect PropTech unit economics?
Transaction volume falls sharply when rates rise, which compresses any usage or per-transaction revenue. Subscription-heavy pricing is materially more resilient through cycles.
What is a realistic sales cycle to assume?
Three to six months for mid-size brokerages and property managers, longer for enterprise operators. Longer cycles mean more sales cost per win, which is the main driver of the higher CAC in this model.