By Gurtej S. Gill Cell # 604-307-2000
The best way to understand the future is to look at the past: at where we come from, and how that time continues to influence how we live and work today. Winston Churchill has said that farther back we can look, the farther forward we are likely to see. The same is true and applies to the future trends in Real Estate industry. This market has travelled from traditional practices to embracing high technology/social media and professionally managing and understanding local, national and global real estate trends. The Real Estate market mechanism is predicted to be largely influenced by the factors e.g. recent financial market disruptions, signs of recession in US economy, slow-down of world trade and economic growth volumes, Eurozone’s sovereign debt issues and to some extent uncertainty of China’s growth rate sustainability. The aggregate effect of all these forces on the global economy, and its impact on real estate pricing and valuations, is unprecedented volatility and uncertainty, causing real estate capital to flow to safe havens such as prime trophy assets and secondary assets that tend to remain resilient in the face of weak demand such as non-discretionary retail and multifamily housing.
New challenges to the global economic recovery continue to arise on what seems like a daily basis. Economic growth is decelerating in key markets around the globe and macroeconomic indicators remain mixed at best. Tim Wilson outlines significant trends that will shape the real estate industry over the next half decade. These are: greening technologies and, quite possibly, greening legislation, alternative workplace strategies, social media and mobile applications, impact of demographics on residential real estate, global shift of power to emerging markets and corporate outsourcing – “extended enterprise”. Essentially, Real Estate market now, is no more a domestic or national market; it has become a global market or international market mechanism. Jennifer Lee takes a closer look at one of these trends: the impact that social media is having on the way we work and live, and its role in the real estate industry.
Geopolitical and urban pattern, generational and consumer behaviour, data and property listing systems and real estate professionals’ role are some identifiable traits and challenges that have developed over time, and that experts are sure will affect the Canadian real estate market in the coming decade.
