A Look to the Future

Real Estate is a dynamic industry tied to many facets of our culture and economy.  There is no questions that what is happening in the news, both locally and globally, impacts the real estate market.  Being aware of trends and issues will allow a real estate professional, developer, or investor to make strong even cutting-edge decisions about how to best meet the changing demands in the real estate market.  Three current trends that seem to have a far-reaching impact on real estate are market recovery, technology, and sustainability. 

The recovery of both the real estate and debt markets are crucial to the recovery of our economy.  The breadth and depth of the problems created in the last several years has surprised even experts.  It has, in a very bad way, been a perfect storm. Regaining positive momentum and stability is only the first part of our problem.  The greater challenge is rebuilding trust - trust in our lending institutions, trust in our home builders, trust in investors and home buyers.  Trust is a difficult to build and the process requires the investment of time.  Identifying positive trends in the debt market will help signal improvement in both the commercial and residential real estate markets.



Technology is no longer a thing of the future, but rather a strong and growing element of virtually everything we do.  From social networking to automated maintenance of facilities, technology has the power to make us more connected and more efficient.  Unfortunately, it also has the power to make us lazy and ignorant if we defer all knowledge and responsibility to computer based systems.  Technology is already impacting real estate in numerous ways and this will continue and expand in the future.  Telecommuting may impact what office space and homes look like in the future.  The ever smaller size of technology may impact the size of residential and commercial buildings.  Knowing what the current trends are in technology may allow you to market of plan real estate developments in a creative and new way.  It has been said that to know what is coming up next in technology you need only look at what is not working, or working as well as we want it to and imagine a solution.



Sustainability is defined as the ability to endure and there is no doubt that this initiative will last.  While we have had green elements in many areas in the past, it is now becoming a real, tangible, measurable part of the world of real estate.  LEED certification has made great strides in creating a consistent and credible standard by which to measure the sustainaibilty of a building, extending into the ongoing maintenace and operations.  The real estate opportunities in the area of sustainability are vast and varied as it is a relatively new paradigm shift, but one that is gaining ground quickly.  Knowing what the current trends are within this initiative will allow a real estate professional to position themselves be very successful.