While it’s not over yet, 2016 has proven to be a year of change in a variety of industries. The real estate space, in particular, is one that continues to develop and improve as time goes on. I’m excited to see what’s in store for the industry, and as clients of mine become more educated on the ins and outs of operating in the space, I hope that they’ll begin to look at buying and selling real estate as an enjoyable process, not an arduous task.
Here are the major real estate trends to watch in 2017:
Drones
In 2017, we’ll likely see drones being used in the real estate space with a greater degree of regularity than we see now. Given that location is everything in real estate (and it really is), sellers will want to schedule flyovers with drones to take pictures that’ll appear to would-be buyers. Additionally, using a drone to do a live posting on social media is a great way to pull in views, and I wouldn’t be surprised if agents starting doing this as well.
Drones have been used almost exclusively in the commercial real estate market thus far, but residential buyers might like to use drones to check out a house that’s inconvenient to drive to. Using a drone to inspect a home’s roof, to ensure the chimney doesn’t have cracks, or to circle the house if access isn’t available will save you a great deal of time and effort.
Surban Neighborhoods
There’s a growing trend in the real estate space towards people moving into dense communities of different housing arrangements such as apartments, single-family homes, and townhouses. These arrangements are often in the same neighborhood, and as they serve as a combination of suburban and urban dwellings, they’re often referred to as ‘surban’ neighborhoods. These surban neighborhoods often come about as a result of existing suburban neighborhoods adding urban amenities so there’s an environment where people can live, play, and work right outside of the core of a city.
Millennials Aiming Higher
With real estate markets doing well and interest rates dropping low, millennials who have paid down their student debt and built up cash are looking to purchase homes beyond the typical starter kit or condo that millennials typically buy en masse. Student debt will likely continue to affect whether the millennial generation is able to purchase homes, to be sure, but it seems that millennials are gaining access to the housing market on levels closer to what their parents were able to in decades past.
Generation Z
They might be teenagers now, but Generation Z is almost on the cusp of being able to buy homes. The first Gen Z-ers will be reaching their 18th birthdays this year, and unlike millennials, their buying habits weren’t formed during war, recession and the housing downturn (not to mention crushing student-loan burdens). With lower interest rates, better job prospects and higher wages, Gen-Xers might end up valuing homeownership to a greater extent than millennials, which could have a definitively positive impact on the housing market.
Source: Marketplace