In real estate, what happens next? Predictions that could change everything

If you believe the movies, there are only a few things we can all see coming in the future. Things like hoverboards, flying cars, robot enemies and holidays on Mars. However, one thing we can’t agree on is what’s around the corner in real estate. Everyone is a speculator.

Providing one such vision is business futurist Morris Miselowski, who has made a career of analysing tech trends and advising businesses across industries on how to future-proof their business. As a global business futurist who speaks, consults and broadcasts on what comes next and “beyond next”, his clients include some of the biggest names in the Australian business and government landscape. One of his areas of expertise is the way that we live, work and house ourselves in the future.

A brave new world

We’re sorry to say, the Australian dream of a house on a quarter acre block is dead, Miselowski argues, or rather it will be. Skyscrapers will emerge in the suburbs. As the Australian population grows, housing prices will increase, and demographics will change. The once sacred Australian trophy of the two-storey house on a quarter acre block is soon destined for the nostalgic scrapheap as pragmatism, economics and changing demographics call for new solutions.

Medium density, multipurpose

In this evolving space of tomorrow we will learn to combine work and living spaces as we increasingly shift away from detached living to multipurpose medium-density developments. You’ll see more semi-detached, row style houses and apartments, predominantly 4 – 6 stories high, in mixed-purpose buildings (shops, offices and residences).

Full house

We will see more multi-generational homes being built to house family members, including those that will routinely live up to 120 years of age. More young adults will live at home longer, more generations will live together under one roof, and many other co-habiting models will begin to become more commonplace.

Rise of the home office

The notion of work is also up for change as we move away from a centralised 9 – 5 workplace and instead increasingly decentralise working to where and when it is appropriate. This will often be relocated from a city office to a home base.

Robo-cars and their effect on homes

Add to this our changing transportation landscape, the arrival of autonomous cars in 2025 and the shared car phenomenon and we have a very different view of where we might work, how we might travel and the repositioning of our home as the epicentre of the family and our lives. Our living spaces will become smaller, and more dynamic, capable of physically and digitally changing from a bedroom, to an office, to a lounge room in a split second. This won’t be done by us physically moving furniture around, but rather through technology changing the digital environment and furniture moving itself.

Internet of things

Say goodbye to the administrative tasks that currently take up a great deal of time, leaving people more time to focus on more productive activities. “The internet of things will digitally connect up all our objects, devices, wearable tech and possessions to make each aware of the other, so together they can deliver our experiences and needs.” Big Data and Artificial Intelligence will quietly sit behind the scenes and monitor our homes, our lives and our world, sifting through this vast ocean of continuously growing information, bringing back what we need to know and making decisions on our behalf.

Virtual insanity

Imagine walking through properties that don’t exist. Virtual touring properties will become the norm, not the exception, for properties that both exist and are under construction. “Virtual and Augmented Reality are also set for mainstream usage as they afford us the opportunity to extend or alter our physical world to see and experience what is not yet real,” Miselowski says. “They will be the must have, can’t-live-without tools and are only the tip of the iceberg of what’s ahead.

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