Industrialization, standardization, and digitalization will reshape the entire real estate value chain by shifting from services or projects to products. Will you defensively react, optimistically adjust, structurally reinvent or strategically integrate?
The real estate and construction ecosystem of the near future will inevitably be radically different; however, it is also fair to say that this prediction is not radical at all. The building industry is repeatedly called out for lagging behind when it comes to invention and widespread adoption of innovative solutions. Today’s mainstream landscape, which is predominantly project-based, fragmented, manual, convoluted, and consequently inefficient, was at odds with emerging trends and peripheral changes even before the COVID-19 outbreak. Yet, as the pandemic resumes and all sectors are conscientiously and rapidly adjusting to alternative modes of working, interacting, and prioritizing health and safety, it is anticipated that transformation will likely be accelerated to accommodate new norms and expectations. Product-based tactics are one of many shifts provoked by external pressures and internal frictions. This article attempts to frame this particular paradigm shift because it informs so many other necessary changes. It also serves as a call to action for all players, those within or adjacent to the real estate and construction industry, to ensure that everyone has an indispensable purpose, albeit redefined for many, within the interdependent networks that transpire.