Commercial Real Estate Gets Technical
Written by Jamie Henry. Published on Wednesday, May 20, 2015 on Canadian Real Estate Magazine.
The commercial real estate sector will see changes from emerging technologies, according to a report from Colliers International.
The firm said that various shifts in technology will mean that companies will require different solutions for their commercial space. Retailers, for example, will increasingly use 3D printing to create products, reducing the need for large stock storage facilities.
However, this could cause location issues for such businesses as 3D printing is classed as light manufacturing and would need to be located in an area zoned for that purpose. It could mean that retailers will shift from traditional space or that they would require two premises.
Two other emerging technologies that are of particular interest to the real estate industry include drones and virtual reality.
Unmanned aircraft (drones) allow commercial agents to survey and offer remote viewings at a far lower cost than using a helicopter and camera operator. Colliers expects drone-captured videos to become the standard for property overviews within months.
Virtual tours will also begin to become widespread with benefits of time-saving.
