Wazzup Pilipinas!
Property portal Lamudi Philippines predicts five market trends that will shape the property sector in 2017
The year 2016 was a challenging year for real estate. Most of the year was rapt with uncertainty in the aftermath of two seismic events—Brexit and the U.S. elections.
Anyone thinking of buying property became hesitant and decided that it was more prudent to wait until there is more clarity about how these unexpected events would affect the market. Buyers in Mexico were worried that a wall might be built sending the country into an economic recession. English investors were concerned that the inevitable departure from the EU would be cataclysmic for the domestic property market.
Analysts at Lamudi Philippines have spent some time in the lab crunching the stats, to come up with five trends they deem will shape real estate in 2017.
Steady as She Goes
With torpid real GDP growth across most of the emerging
markets, governments are reluctant to raise interest rates. So where does that
leave the market? In many cases due to difficulties securing construction
financing and the cash required to purchase prize locations, there is now a
situation where investors will look to avoid risk more so than usual. In brief,
this will create a calm market, where real estate prices remain stable. While
construction activity is expected to pick up pace in the second half of 2017,
the start of the new year will be slower to gain momentum.
Emerging Markets Are
a Portfolio Essential
A smart move for the new year is to hedge your investments
in Europe and the United States by including some higher risk real estate
investment funds. In a world of unattractive global investment options going
against the grain might be the ticket to prosperity. Despite the International
Monetary Fund cutting its global growth forecast to 3.4 percent for 2017, there
is hope in the developing world.
Attack of the Drones
Unmanned aerial vehicles or drones will be the big tech
advancement in 2017. Real estate agents will look to gain an edge over
competitors by providing flyovers of properties for exclusive properties and
agents. Home-buyers and sellers will be able to use drones to their advantage.
One caveat: certain flights will need the local tower’s permission along with a
flight plan filed online. There is a real danger that drones could crash into
commercial planes; considering the damage a bird can do this is something users
need to bear in mind.
Optionality Is Back
As investors flee to relative safe havens; developers and
investors are seeking solace in multi-use projects. Owners of versatile
buildings can benefit from finding the maximum rent from the ideal tenant,
whether that is through offices, retail outlets, or residential blocks.
Flexible leases will become more common in a coworking type of arrangement. Lamudi—the global property platform whose
global HQ is in the trendy Kreuzberg area of Berlin, Germany, share their
building with other Rocket Internet startups. This is an ideal way for owners
to get the full rental income while companies can engage in knowledge sharing.
Smart Home Tech and
IoT
In 2016 we read a lot about the revolution that the
Internet-of-Things (IoT) promised and 2017 may be the year for smart home
technology to become more widespread. The problem is that there is a lot of
competition, but no single company has managed to combine multiple appliances
and apps into a seamless catch-all product. That could soon change with Google
and Apple entering the market, giants of uniform user experiences. So brace
yourself for smart houses that make life very, very easy for you.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
.jpg)
