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Future Real Estate Trends
Older parents are vying with their adult children to buy homes in vibrant communities that offer round-the-clock activities, a conference on real estate trends heard last week heard. And those communities are increasingly popping up outside of city centres, Stephen Blank, senior resident fellow of Washington, D.C.-based Urban Land Institute, last week told about 200 members of the Toronto wing of the organization.
"People want that greater convenience in their lives. The empty nesters are competing with their children to live in the 24-hour places, whether those are urban, or now there's even lots of suburban ones," he told an audience of about 100 investors and real estate industry executives.
Those communities include pedestrian-accessible retail, restaurants, parks, supermarkets and offices, he noted.
As suburban downtowns take off, public transportation becomes even more essential, Blank said.
"The unmarrieds, the young couples and the older adults are competing with each other to live in pedestrian friendly, 24-hour places where the car is no longer essential," he explained. "As more and more suburban places are assuming these urban characteristics, mass transportation becomes even more critical to future growth," he added.
The Urban Land Institute says there's a growing appetite for infill and mixed-use developments. "People want greater convenience in their time-constrained lives. Far-flung greenfield homes may cost less, but filling the gas tank burns holes in wallets," states a ULI document, Emerging Trends in Real Estate, 2007.
Infill developments will turn generations-old suburban areas into more vertical-looking urban centres. "Townhouses and apartments replace strip malls and some past-their-prime single-family subdivisions. Multi-family highrises spring up on pads around regional malls," the ULI document reads.
" Building "green" will become even more popular than it is today, Blank said. "Some say it's a fad, but I wouldn't count on it. We see more and more traction. More and more tenants and owners want to reduce costs and be environmentally conscious," he added.
The ULI document notes that while green buildings cost up to 10 per cent more to construct, energy savings can approach 35 per cent. Green strategies include insulated glass windows, green roofs, and photovoltaic cells to generate electricity.
"Stop fighting sticker shock on energy bills. Even if fuel prices decline temporarily, (we) need to reduce oil dependence and become more efficient. Global warming issues resonate, too," the document states.
November 25, 2006 in What's next (in real estate) | Permalink
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