Emergent Housing Trends and their Impact on Brokers

The real estate market experiences continuous – and even instantaneous – shifts and turns. The up-and-down movement of the industry has taught investors and agents to keep their eyes peeled for new trends. In any industry, preparing for changes in consumer habits is key to staying ahead of the competition. There’s a need for flexibility, especially when new business models or tools emerge.

When real estate brokers understand today’s housing trends, they proactively adjust the ways they approach their work. The market today is influenced by a number of factors, making it important to focus not just on the trend itself, but asking why or how they came to be. Brokers who make the effort to ask the “whys” position themselves at the forefront of new opportunities, because they will be the ones who will know how to capitalize on the demands of their market.

There are four consistent housing trends in various regions as observed by real estate researchers around the globe for 2019, and these trends revolve around customer behaviors and digital tools. 

Buyers are now compelled to downsize

Many of today’s real estate buyers have been inspired by a movement geared towards simple living. From there comes the downsizing trend in housing. There are benefits to downsizing: the home becomes more intimate, the space is easier to design, and living expenses can be minimized. Because of this desire to downsize, many interested buyers want to live in condominiums and apartments instead of houses.

While it may be tempting to have a large living room, it’s the manageability that concerns them. When there’s less space in a home, the time spent keeping things clean and organized becomes shorter and the effort required is lessened.

Co-living will continue to resonate among millennials

Two years ago, co-living was a fast-emerging housing trend for those who work too far from where they live. Now, it has become known as the future of housing; because cities are becoming denser and housing costs are rising higher, more renters are looking to co-living as a way to cut down costs. In fact, one can view it as another way to downsize.

There’s an economical benefit to co-living, but there’s an emotional one as well that compels many to consider it.

Many millennials are known to want to be part of something bigger than themselves and feel a community presence. In the commercial real estate sector, it’s why coworking has grown significantly in recent years, because it serves as a bridge for people and companies of different backgrounds. Co-living does the same, filling the gap for young people’s desire to be part of a community of like-minded individuals. It also allows them to live mobile in urban areas.

Technology is changing the process of real estate transactions

Ask where modern day homebuyers look for homes and they’ll say they search for properties online. There has been a proliferation of digital tools available to them with which to make purchase decisions. In 2019, however, technology won’t just play a role in the way properties are marketed.

Most tech movement now is focused on simplifying transactions. In fact, companies desire to make real estate so efficient that purchases and payments could be done online.  

Marketing luxury real estate will focus on personalization

Though technology heavily drives the changes in the industry, brokers should keep in mind that it’s merely a tool for marketing real estate. Brokers still have the responsibility of selling real estate – but this time, they have the benefit of tools to deliver quality materials.

Selling luxury properties depends on shaping an experience. It’s why in recent years, real estate companies and brokers have begun to offer virtual reality home tours for their clients. But personalizing real estate is about showing the buyers the added value that they can receive when they choose to invest on a high-end property.

There’s a prediction for more luxury properties to be constructed and developed in 2019. Now, instead of showing buyers what amenities they can have within their reach, it’s about letting them now how living in the home will help their well-being.

These are just some emergent housing trends, and because of the unpredictability of the market, they may soon change as quickly as they came. Thankfully, however, there will always be a demand for properties. Brokers simply need to know how to approach that demand. Brokers shouldn’t allow themselves or their businesses to be left behind by new trends, and instead prepare to adapt quickly to others that are still to come.