After two years of unprecedented challenges faced by real estate, experts share their predictions for 2022.

Robert Wolstenholme

Robert Wolstenholme

Founder, Trilogy Real Estate

Politicians will do everything they can to create good news in 2022. While working on a global solution to the pandemic, they will keep on printing money and suppressing interest rates to support economic optimism.

For property, this means capital will flow, raising house prices and the value of certain prime and alternative asset classes. Money will flow into a narrowing subset of the market, causing price rises for some, but reductions for many.

The divide between the haves and have-nots will widen. Levelling up will push demand to regional cities. Asset managers with hands-on skills will be in demand; refits and repositionings will abound. By the end of the year, inflation, interest rates and the US and UK electoral cycles might begin to create volatility.

Trilogy will stay focused on education, student living and innovation hubs, with a genuine commitment to community and biodiversity.

Lee Polisano

Lee Polisano

Founding partner and president, PLP Architecture

The countless disruptions to our lives over the past year have mentally prepared us to accept that we can make radical, systematic changes when needed. I hope this mindset will feed into our industry this year, particularly with regards to reducing our carbon output. We have the knowledge, technology and enthusiasm to change how we design and deliver buildings.

Our greatest gains will not be realised without significant innovation. I hope this is the year when we see more breakthroughs in low-carbon products and systems being moved from prototype to mass adoption. But I fear that a regulatory environment that offers little in incentives will stifle innovation in favour of an easier ride to compliance.

Jason Longhurst

Jason Longhurst

Chair, UK Business Council for Sustainable Development

I wonder how many in the sector will agree that after another year of climate pledges, 2022 has to be the year that actions replace words? Our sector should be at the forefront of sustainability, as development is crucial to unlocking environmental and social benefits for our country, communities and people.

To succeed, we need public and private sector to together create an investable market that rewards early adopters, to help create the unicorns and gazelles of sustainable development. Our sector needs to agree a common purpose and standard metrics to measure what developers and asset managers are achieving.

The purpose of that is not to highlight deficiency, but to celebrate what organisations are doing, rather than what they are not doing. Is it time for the sector to come together to help set national and international standards of genuinely measurable sustainable development?

Lorna Walker - Modomo

Lorna Walker

Chief operating officer and head of ESG and impact, Modomo

As we head into 2022 after COP26, it is clear we need a radical response to create the real change the world needs.

There is increasing recognition that to solve the world’s most difficult challenges – the climate crisis, the housing crisis, rebuilding through the pandemic – the property sector needs to be bold and collaborative to deliver practical solutions.

Bold organisations such as BeFirst, Berkeley Group and Bruntwood will lead the charge in moving the housing sector forward. Modern methods of construction (MMC) and new methods of delivery need to become mainstream as part of our sector’s sustainability drive. We will see more collaboration as companies are spurred to innovate, work together and learn from each other.

UKGBC will continue to use its convening power to enable and encourage collaboration, pushing the industry towards net zero. Radical collaboration will enable us to build sustainably in 2022; our planet depends on it.

 

Continue to part 32 here

Topics

Predictions for 2022: Brace yourself…