| Global real estate is developing rapidly alongside technology, identity and geopolitics. Frontier technologies redefine buildings as the building blocks of society. |
| A big thank you to Germany’s leading real estate software firm Aareon for inviting me to Leipzig’s prestigious stage with 600+ guests to share this message. |
Here are the Top 5 trends shaping real estate right now: 🔸 China’s Real Estate Bubble: Developers like Evergrande and Country Garden defaulted on over $300B in debt. Roughly 20% of Chinese homes now sit vacant in so-called “ghost cities.” Construction once drove 30% of China’s GDP. The collapse ripples through commodities, banks, and growth, and teaches what happens when assets becomes speculation rather than a managed social resource. 🔸 Saudi Arabia’s NEOM & “The Line”: A $500B mega-project, a city powered fully by AI, renewables, and automation. NEOM sets the benchmark for how digital and sustainable cities might function, with AI predicting failures in HVAC, elevators, or energy before they occur. This shows a general trends where cities are becoming integrated platforms, not just places to live. NEOM was one of my key partners to work with at the World Economic Forum. 🔸 Rise of Vertical Mega-Buildings: Across Asia and the Middle East, skyscrapers now function as vertical “villages,” with homes, schools, gyms, offices, and hospitals stacked inside. Managing them equals running a small city, with extreme complexity in energy, safety, and services. Such architecture becomes a new way to express identity, such as Singapore’s Green Towers, Riyadh’s skyline, or Oslo’s wooden skyscrapers. 🔸 Data Centers as the New Real Estate Gold: AI and cloud drive explosive demand, and data centers are being built at rapid pace. They require flawless management of cooling, power, and cybersecurity, and the precision disciplines developed here will flow back into how we manage housing and commercial property in general. 🔸 Generative Architecture Models: AI can now design entire buildings, simulating thousands of variations for light, energy, cost, and materials in minutes. This shifts architecture from static blueprints to living simulations as smarter, more sustainable, and even culturally expressive designs emerge, reducing waste and adapting to climate and identity. Psychologically speaking, thanks to the creativity and expressionism that modern technology allows, real estate is no longer just a sector, but becomes a mirror of how humanity manages its growth, its resources, and its future identity. |
| Watch a country’s architectural developments closely and you will be able to precisely tell what it’s culture, Zeitgeist and values are. |