Circular futuristic interface of smart home automation assistant on a virtual screen and a user touching a button

A report released last week by the MIT Center for Real Estate said tech-driven changes that are beginning to appear in real estate will soon be ubiquitous. It predicts homes won’t look drastically different in 30 years, but they will be operating very differently.

The biggest changes will likely be demographics, said Professor Albert Saiz, director of the MIT Center for Real Estate and co-author of the report. Population growth in red states is going to outpace growth in blue states because of the availability of land in states like the Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, Arizona and New Mexico. In addition, the population is aging, and home design will have to reflect that fact.

“We are increasingly thinking about solutions for the elderly when they cannot drive or take care of themselves,” Saiz said. “Of course, we are already seeing the generation born after World War II beginning to reach that stage.”

The report predicts the use of sensors that could identify inactivity in the homes of the elderly and blood-pressure monitors and other health sensors that could send data directly to hospitals, alerting health care professionals to warning signs before a health emergency, or as soon as one occurs. These innovations could help seniors age in place longer.

The Internet Of Things

As more and more household components and appliances become web-enabled, the report said, property owners can collect data and provide performance feedback. They can also control the heat, air conditioning, security, lighting and plumbing in their home with an Internet-connected smartphone from nearly anywhere in the world.

Through the automation of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, security and other systems, buildings can now collect data and provide feedback on performance in real time. This can help reduce energy consumption, maintenance costs and administrative expenses.

There are countless applications for this technology, like a smoke detector that could alert the fire department immediately when it detected smoke or elevated carbon monoxide levels. That could shave minutes off the time it takes first responders to arrive, saving countless lives.

There are already leak detectors on the market that can alert residents when their water heater leaks and apps that allow users to remotely shut off the water supply off to avert a flood.

The invention of precision circular saws, cordless drills and pneumatic hammers made homebuilding much faster and much better. In the future, machines just might do it all.

Large-scale, 3D printed buildings with self-assembled components are not as far into the future as you might think, according to the report. New York-based Construction Robotics has invented a semi-automated mason – called SAM – that it claims can lay more than three times as many bricks as a human, and never makes mistakes, gets tired, calls in sick, goes on vacation, asks for a raise or files workman’s compensation claims.

As the technology improves and gets less expensive and as the shortage of skilled labor worsens, the market for this kind of technology only grows more attractive.

Driverless Cars And The Natural Environment

Autonomous, driverless cars could have a huge impact on where and how people live. Housing demand in far-off suburbs or rural areas may grow as people are more able to tolerate longer commutes, because they aren’t doing the driving.

“You could work or just relax on the way to and from the office,” Saiz said. “You might even share a ride with one or more people. It will feel like a train and might facilitate opening up the hinterlands. Maybe it will take 30 years, but within 10 years we will have prototypes.”

In urban centers where residents depend on cars less, Saiz said autonomous vehicles could reduce the need for parking lots, opening those spaces for more residential and other development.

“We’ll use fewer cars in the city and close suburbs and rely on autonomous vehicle services,” Saiz said. “We might expect some release of land currently used for parking, [although] less so in the suburbs. It could facilitate redensification in cities like Boston, New York and Atlanta.”

On the inside of the houses we’re now not driving to, biophilic design is about to take off, according to Bill Browning, a partner with Terrapin Biophilic Design who contributed to the report. Biophilic design is about connecting humans to nature in a built environment, he said; the idea is that humans are healthier and happier when they spend time in nature or spaces the mimic the natural landscape.

Home designs featuring natural wood grain and exposed stone features are easily retrofitted into most homes, he said, and bigger concepts can also be incorporated. Installing a sliding glass or French door helps create a space with an unimpeded view to the outside, which research shows is especially important for the elderly.

“Refuge is where your back is protected and you have kind some canopy overhead,” Browning said. “You can achieve this with a huge wingback chair. You can also have artwork that represents nature, like landscapes which can help lower heart rate and blood pressure. Or seeing real nature like an aquarium. In health care settings, they see faster recovery times. It’s why so many hospitals have healing gardens.”

These and other biophilic concepts are being integrated into hotels, and residential design often follows hotel design, he said. As these concepts are better understood, they spread, and he expects that trend will continue as part of the already-popular green construction trend.

Completely Paperless Transactions

Some appraisals are being already done by algorithms. Freddie Mac’s Automatic Collateral Evaluation program is a good example. Paperless mortgages are slowly taking hold and there are several companies trying to incorporate Blockchain technology into the real estate process. Each of these technologies are expected to make real estate transfers faster and cheaper.

“Automated valuation models will incorporate predictive capabilities so that banks and investors will obtain both estimates of the current value of a property and its likely evolution in the years to come,” the report found. “Big data will make real estate financial performance ever so much more transparent to investors and policymakers. Augmented and virtual reality technologies will dramatically transform the ways in which we purchase, design, and decorate real properties. And the proliferation of software packages that aid in or even automate parts of the development, construction, asset management, leasing, zoning and underwriting services will keep apace. In due time, comprehensive online platforms will consolidate these applications, led by current major real estate service providers and perhaps a few entrants from the IT world.”

Homes in 2050 will look substantially the same as they do today, but they will work better and smarter, Saiz said.

“Almost everything we see now is driven by the computer and information technology,” he said. “We used to think of the future as more of a hardware issue. Gadgets galore and changing the way we look and move, but it’s about the software and the knowledge. There will be a push toward more natural environments. The appearances may be more retro in 50 years, but the embedded knowledge in in homes and cars will change how they work.”

The full report can be seen on the MIT Center for Real Estate’s website at
mitcre.mit.edu.