Real Estate Disruptions

Catalog description

In the years before Covid, real Estate started to change dramatically for the first time in perhaps one hundred years. Covid and its aftermath led to further disruptions. This class will examine how technology is changing in many facets (all) of the industry. This course will address how technology has already changed the demand for real estate and how it will likely change how real estate is used, designed, developed, constructed, managed, leased, maintained, and financed. Among many questions to be considered: Can you crowd-fund real estate development? Will the office business become a part of hospitality? Can we build new buildings like we assemble legos? How will autonomous vehicles affect the demand for space and property values? What is the future of new data analytics services? What are the effects of working from home on cities and various real estate asset classes? This team-taught course will bring together a recognized industry leader and Wharton faculty. Includes a broad set of guest lecturers (Start-up entrepreneurs, incumbents, non-RE technology specialists, etc.). We believe there is no single approach to gaining insight into disruptions and change under uncertainty, so we will propose a mix of approaches, including in-depth case studies, interactions with guest lecturers who handle those issues daily, learning from economic history and other industries, and drawing from core economic concepts.