Have you been looking to invest in real estate and wonder what other investors are leaning on?
Have no worries we got you covered.
However, investing is not an easy road. Hence, this article is brimming with golden nuggets of information that any forward-thinking real estate investor should have.
1. The move toward specialization
Investor competition is on the rise, and it calls for a more creative approach to property selection.
The competition to find investments that meet the return requirements of a growing investor pool has resulted in looking to new and more complex methods to find markets and property sectors that may fall outside the traditional size and growth metric.
In short, investors need to specialize and focus on niche-level opportunities. The report specifically mentions speciality markets like:
- medical offices,
- cell towers,
- data centres,
- multifamily buildings,
- co-living,
- industrial/distribution,
- hotels, and
- retail.
You’ll even find detailed city-by-city recommendations in many of these categories at the bottom of the report.
Its recommended that investors should dive deep to discover “pearls of great value” in markets they’re considering. Specialization has become the hallmark of many professional fields, and real estate is no exception.
2. An ever-growing live-work-play mantra
Urban areas have long been a haven for the live-work-play lifestyle. Residents want walkable commutes, easy access to housing, and 24-hour amenities. But today, it’s not just major city centres providing this way of life.
The 24-hour live-work-play approach has officially entered suburbia, with smaller cities like Thika, Juja, Syokimau and Kamulu, joining the ranks. It’s stretching from Nakuru and Mombasa towns.
And it’s not slowing down, either. Therefore as investors, you should expect more communities to embrace the 24-hour (or at least 18-hour) lifestyle.
If the live-work-play formula could revive inner cities a quarter-century ago, there is no reason to think that it will not work in suburbs with the right bones and the will to succeed.
See Also: The Pros of Renting in the Suburbs
3. A focus on community
Co-living, co-working, ride-sharing, and short-term rental hosting all point to a growing sense of community. People are more willing to share and interact with their neighbours these days, and it’s trickling down to the real estate world by way of co-living buildings, farm-based master-planned communities, and even reimagined office buildings.
Office design even within large organizations has gone beyond the eclipse of the individual office and the blooming of common areas, to spaces that encourage serendipity even more than mere collaboration.
The office spaces created specifically for the gig economy are even more designed to help this along, as they regard networking as an essential benefit for their users — and provide social as well as productive opportunities to help this along.
Much of the shift toward community is generational, borne out of technology and the need for cost-saving mechanisms, according to the report.
See Also: Reasons Investing in Real Estate Is Easier Than Ever
5. The importance of ESG issues
As more millennials start investing, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues are becoming more important. More than half of millennial investors’ investment decisions are influenced by ESG policies.
Overall, investors’ business ethics top-of-mind ESG concern, followed by:
- bribery and corruption,
- occupational health and safety,
- responsible supply chain practices,
- waste management issues, and
- energy use.
The bottom line is:
Trends — by their nature — are dynamic. Time is a stream, not a frozen pond. That stream runs toward the future, and each year puts some conditions into the past and brings some conditions closer to realization. If the pace is gradual, we may hardly feel the changes. But they are happening even if subtly.