Dave Bragg, managing director at Green Street Advisors, joined REIT.com for a video interview at REITWorld 2016: NAREIT’s Annual Convention for All Things REIT at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge.
Bragg discussed some of the key disruptive forces that are affecting the future of the real estate industry. An important one is the revolution in transportation caused by the combination of ride hailing and driverless cars.
“We think this will result in a much reduced need for car ownership over time and a much reduced need for parking,” Bragg said. Commutes will become easier, faster and cheaper, he said, and “there should be implications for most real estate sectors.”
One sector that may feel pressure, according to Bragg, is self-storage. Reduced car ownership is likely to free up garage space for homeowners, making them less likely to pay for self-storage facilities, he explained.
In the retail sector, Bragg noted that beneficiaries could include owners of high-quality real estate with excess land in the form of surface parking lots. That excess land will provide “great densification opportunities,” he said.
Meanwhile, another potential real estate disruptor that Bragg hopes to focus more on in 2017 is online education and its implications for student housing.