Market Watch | Six Future Commercial Real Estate Trends to Watch – from Global St

Great Article from Global St.com

What does the future of commercial real estate hold? How do today’s emerging market dynamics trickle down for the long term?

GlobeSt.com caught up with James Wacht, president, Lee & Associates NYC, to get some insights. He offers predictions on six trends for the future worth considering now.

1. The Aging US Population

“The huge Boomer generation will impact healthcare and housing,” says Wacht. “Regarding housing, Boomers—especially the Empty Nesters—are increasingly moving to urban centers, leaving their suburban homes behind. The Boomer impact on healthcare is in the expansion of medical retail, such as urgent care and walk-in clinics. We are also at the beginning of a trend in which obsolete retail strip malls are being converted into healthcare centers nationwide.”

2. The Millennial Impact

“Millennials have a strong desire to live in cities and are drawn to 24-hour communities, instead of those that traditionally shut down at 9 p.m.,” Wacht says. “In addition, they don’t shop in the same ways as their predecessors, which is already having a dramatic effect on retail. Instead, Millennials tend to focus on experiential retail, such as food and entertainment.”

3. A Conscious Emphasis on Workforce Diversity

“Real estate tends to follow trends in the business world,” Wacth says. “As more women and minorities occupy C-suites, real estate companies increase diversity among their agents and brokers, too.”

4. Increasing Focus on New Urbanism and Transit-Oriented Developments

“This ties into the populations’ return to urban centers but with a newer focus on shared services such as Uber, Via, LYFT, etc., and Citi Bike,” Wacth says. “Not ironically, subway ridership in New York is up approximately nine percent in just the past six years.

5. Alternative Financing

“As banks get more constrained about lending, due to new regulations, private equity funds and other types of lenders will fill the breach, albeit at higher rates,” Wacht says.

6. Flexible/Mobile Workforce

“We are definitely seeing a trend toward co-working space,” Wacht says. “But people still want to have personal contact and proximity to others, so I don’t see remote workspace overtaking office workspace any time soon.”4

Source Global St .com