Housing is going through times of change and it will have to come to terms with great challenges in order to adapt to the evolution of the market and also to respond to the demands of the real estate investors. New technologies dominate the world and real estate sector has had to adapt to this new reality through intelligent buildings. This digital revolution is unstoppable and it advances at a dizzying speed. Life is changing at the pace dictated by these modern times and, thus, the world of housing is forced to be updated constantly so as not to fall behind. It is time that our real estate sector looks to the future with optimism. However, it is also true that these new times demand that housing measures take up the challenges that will appear. What are these challenges? We have already mentioned one of them which is to adapt to the new technologies and so meet the needs of the people who demand XXI century housing. Some months ago, we wrote an article in this blog about luxury housing millennial buyers . In that article, we stated that these buyers have grown up amidst technology and, therefore, do not conceive buying property which is not equipped with home automation or domotics. Today, it is thought that in Spain nearly half of the existing houses have an integrated domotic system. The “smart home” concept has come to stay, and it will be indispensable that Spanish houses have the capacity to incorporate the new smart devices that hit the market.

COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY

In this blog, we have already written an article about passive housing, and the importance of energy certificates. It is undeniable that, nowadays, the world of housing has a commitment to sustainability, a fact which is fully understood by the buyer and, thus, demands more firmly that the property that will be purchased does not cause harm to the environment. Our real estate system must undesrtand that society is sensitive to the impact that the buildings generate on the planet. Therefore, the construction of new buildings must take into account energy efficiency and also the cutting down, as far as possible, of CO2 emissions so as to produce the smallest amount of waste. It will be essential that the buildings bring about the use of renewable energies and are also orientated to sustainability.

THE LAND PROBLEM

Another great challenge that housing must face, especially in large cities, is the lack of land for building. In the centre of cities like Madrid or Barcelona, it is nearly impossible to find developable land and this has caused new construction to have to move to outlying districts. This, in turn, implies that the people living in the centre of these cities, inevitably, are getting old. The placing on the market of developable land seems to be the solution to solve the problem. However, it is not an easy task. Currently, there are abandoned buildings in the centre of our large cities which take up land where new buildings could be constructed being a way to rejuvenate the area. In any case, this problem must be solved by the administrations concerned and its resolution is another great challenge for housing because the demand for new construction houses in our large cities has not stopped growing.

Picture 01: freepik

Picture 02: jcomp