A Decade In Review: 3 Fundamental Changes Have Shifted CRE Forever

1. The Reinvention of the Office Space

Even though co-working spaces account for only 5% of the entire office market, the new workplace structure has been changed forever in the last 10 years.

Not so long ago, offices were sterile places of business, full stop. Now they are much more: American offices have opened up during the last decade, with a new emphasis on worker collaboration, creative amenities, hospitality and technology to link the workplace with everyplace else.

Traditional workplaces will not go extinct anytime soon, although there is no doubt that the old school commercial operators have been rattled by the rapid innovation.

2. Those Damn Millienials

In 2015, millennials become the largest demographic in the workplace, according to Pew Research.

“Millennials are driving the workplace design conversation,” Spacesmith Director of Business Development Roger Marquis said. Spacesmith is a New York-based architecture and interior design firm.

“They have some very real needs, wants, desires and expectations from their employer about how the workplace is designed and what it offers,” Marquis said. “Part of this speaks to technology, connectivity, remote work options, flexible desk options, collaborative vs. private space, and amenities.”

3. Real Estate Tech Finally Breaks Its Shell

Another industry-redefining trend of the decade, one that has changed all of real estate, has been Real Estate Tech. The change is all the more remarkable because even in the middle of the 2010s, real estate was still an infamously lagging industry when it comes to tech. 

The mindset has shifted, and that has been the real impact during the decade, L.D. Salmanson said. Salmanson is the CEO at Cherre, a real estate data startup specializing in a software-as-a-service platform modeled after high-frequency trading platforms. “We see the beginnings of workflow automation everywhere, the explosion of new datasets, the willingness of such players to work together for the first time, and the rapid experimentation and adoption of new technology across the board,” Salmanson said.

This shift has sparked incremental improvements in every area of the business — from simplified prospecting and research becoming more precise, to valuations becoming more clear-cut and rises and dips in the market more foreseeable