No longer are people confined to urban cities and central business districts. When Henry Ford created the first affordable automobile, the model T, he was certainly not thinking about its impacts on real estate. Generally, populations in the late 1800’s were founded where trains intersected thus creating booming cities. With the advent of the automobile, people were now mobile.
Granted they were still not mobile outside of a small radius of the city but things greatly changed with the Federal Aid Highway Act (FAHA) of 1956. The FAHA authorized $25 billion for the construction of 41,000 miles of interstate highway system.
During the completion of this immense track of highway, many types of new real estate ventures began popping up in the 1950’s as consumer mobility and demand shifted. As people began driving across the country, they needed places to eat, sleep and shop. And as any good entrepreneur, real estate trendsetters were there. Filling stations, motels, and fast food were the most prominent endeavors created for this need. It seemed as if overnight this new real estate model popped up.
The FAHA also led to the suburban boom and the flight of residents out of the city. This created the demand for new single family housing as well as retail centers to support this new growth. As this suburban sprawl took shape, home builders built larger homes since there was more land to build on. This rapid development created the great suburban migration, essentially living cities barren. Outside of high rise office buildings, inner city real estate saw a general decline.
However, in an almost ironic fashion, suburban living was seen as cookie cutter in design and lacked any originality. Houses were generally identical, shopping centers housed similar if not the same stores, and the overall experience of suburbia was bland. Over the last decade, there has been a push against suburbia as the Baby Boomers and Echo Boomers seek a more walk-able lifestyle in urban developments.
As demand increased, the real estate industry has slowly shifted towards live-work-play environments which are increasingly being created near transit stations. Consumers are now looking for convenience rather than space. They are giving up the 3,000 square foot houses for the 1,500 square foot townhomes and condo’s.
Similar to the advent of the automobile, technology has had a great impact on real estate. Items such as the digital camera have made photo processing booths obsolete. Furthermore, online shopping has significantly reduced the need to visit traditional brick-and-mortar stores and has given consumers greater choice in shopping. The internet has also opened up a wealth of information for homebuyers who were once at the mercy of real estate brokers who operated as the gate keepers.
Real estate sites such as Trulia and Zillow give homebuyers detailed and extensive information about markets, trends, pricing, and mortgage options. Real estate brokers are thus changing out they operate and moving towards an online and internet based strategy; utilizing sites like Facebook and Twitter to advertise their listings.
The use of technology and wireless interactions has also caused a change in the office environment. Office workers are no longer strapped to a desk but now have mobile offices in their vehicles. Real estate responded to this demand by creating pay-as-you-go office rental for travelers who only need an office for a week, a few days and even a few hours. As more people travel for work, hoteliers have developed sleep stations that provide only the basic amenities in a relatively small space; thus providing travelers a less expensive option when traveling.
Additionally, as computers get smaller and more people work out of the office, the space required to house employees is shrinking. Offices are seeing more plug-in stations rather than full-fledged offices. The advent of the smartphone as only spurred this growth as people can now conduct business with a handheld device.
In a broad sense it is rather interesting to see how real estate professionals respond to growing trends in other industries, such as the automobile and computer industries. As a result, real estate professionals are both reactionary as well as forward thinkers when it comes to creating new products for consumers.
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