There’s a wave of change that is approaching the real estate industry. Three undeniably integral factors of the American culture and economy are reaching a pivotal moment. Together, they reveal that enormous change is coming upon the real estate industry soon.
The Baby Boomers – The social and economic wave of the baby boomers is constantly shaping the face of the US economy. Seventy-six million Americans were born between 1946-1964 and their buying habits shaped the country in spectacular ways.The National Association of Realtors reported in 2012 that the average age of a Realtor was 56. Approximately 22% are 65 or older and only 2% are under 30. The baby boomers are now reaching the age of retirement and their exodus from the work place will have a significant impact on all industries. The apparent imbalance in the real estate industry is a strong indicator a huge shift is occurring right now.
Technology – In the last decade, technology has been growing at an exponential rate. The introduction of new technology has created inconceivable changes in human behavior. The real estate industry has adopted the standard changes in technology such as faxing and emailing, but overall, has seen little technological progress. Not only is technology currently ripe for innovation, but the consumers are craving it. Paper-free is destined to become the norm for contracts and showings are beginning to occur online in 3D environments. Intel co-founder Gordon Moore described in 1965 that computer chip performance would double approximately every 2 years. Even today, his predictions have remained accurate. The fact that computer speeds are doubling every couple of years is not an equation of multiplication – it’s an equation that grows exponentially fast. Technology is now developing at baffling speeds, and the real estate industry will be expected to compete on the basis of technological innovation.
The New Economy – Although the economy is in a state of recovery, the American people have experienced a devastating recession, only 2nd to the Great Depression. Not only have people found themselves under water in their homes, but credit limits and availability was drastically cut over the last few years. Of course this has created financial difficultly for many, but it’s been an enormous shift in mentality for everyone. Now, all Americans feels differently about leveraging credit, the equity in the homes, and saving for the future. The real estate industry saw traumatic economic adjustments that caused thousands to leave the industry. Businesses had to rethink everything, because the normal way of doing business no longer worked and the guidelines and laws were changing regularly. The industry has obviously changed already because of the economy, but the upward growth that is being experienced is going to create even more changes as America achieves economic recovery.
The reality of a new real estate industry is not to be taken lightly. The enormity of the industry impacts everything about American society. The upcoming future of real estate includes a younger generation of tech-savvy professionals who have the opportunity to recreate the industry in a new economy. It’s an absolute certainty that enormous change is coming upon the real estate industry soon.
Article written by Sean Frank, Founder of Mainframe Real Estate
