Twenty Years of the Real Estate Special Issue: What Might the Next Twenty Years Bring?

The articles contained in the special real estate issue are discussed within the context of three broad trends that are likely to affect the real estate investment industry over the next 20 years: the rise of data science and artificial intelligence, the increasing importance of environmental and social issues to real estate investment, and a broadening of investors’ interest in real estate both geographically and by property sector. Each of these trends has reinforcing effects on the others. Together, these trends appear likely to impact how investment decisions are made, what typical institutional real estate portfolios look like, and how the industry itself is structured. Although it is likely that these forces will have significant impacts, the most impactful trends over the next 20 years might be forces that that no one is even thinking about today.