5 Trends that are Opening the World of Technology Even Wider

Multifamily cycles traditionally have been measured by a baseball game’s progress. The maturation of a cycle – when markets are about to top out amid a setting sun – is typically compared to the eighth or ninth inning. Conversely, the start of the cycle is like the fresh cut grass on the diamond, a smoothed infield and the renewed start of the first inning. The state of technology is another ballgame. The sizzling fast, changing pace of technology is on a beeline to extra innings rather than facing the third and final out. With the continuum of technology, every inning now looks like a new ballgame. Not surprising, technology is reshaping businesses and the way we do every day things. Its presence casts new light on everything within a broad swath, and it satisfies and frustrates in the same breath. Its limitlessness is mind-boggling and sometimes can’t be contained, at least immediately, yet its allure harbors new opportunity for a better way. Technology’s power seems immeasurable. The speed of computing, the amount of data and network bandwidth available, doubles every year or two as it keeps reaching new heights. What are the implications of such a fast-paced change of technology for real estate assets that last 50 years?   No question, technology is impacting the business world, multifamily included. Recent studies have shown that the life expectancy of S&P 500 companies is shrinking because many are too slow to adopt the new order. The old guard is slowly moving off the leader board - Amazon, Google, Apple and Microsoft - who are driving innovation, are setting up residency. In real estate, tens of billions of capital dollars are being invested in the Proptech space, one that is anchored by a handful of market-based technologies. These technologies are creating smart homes, more efficiencies in construction, reshaping financial transactions and helping to drive the collaborative economy. Consumers are the natural dis...