Big moves are being made in the field of high speed travel, but what will they mean for the future of cities and CRE? Major changes are ahead.
In 2012, Elon Musk first proposed the hyperloop: a train-like system that could transport people and cargo faster than air travel for the price of a bus ticket. And just three weeks ago, the first hyperloop capsule was put into production.
The hyperloop will travel as fast as 800 miles per hour, which gives it the potential to completely transform the way people move between cities. At this speed, you could travel from New York City to Washington, D.C. in 20 minutes.
Hyperloop technology is in development in the US, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, and the companies behind it predict that the first hyperloop tunnels and capsules will be ready for riders by 2020.
As high speed travel options like the hyperloop take off, the world’s cities will become more connected than ever before. Commutes will be condensed, and it will be easy to live and work in areas that are hundreds of miles apart.
The impact on city landscapes will be huge. One city could become entirely industrial, while another could become entirely residential or recreational. Whole cities could begin to feel and function more like neighborhoods, and new cities could spring up that span state, or even international, borders. The options are nearly endless.
As cities begin to transform in response to high speed travel, the CRE industry will have a lot of work to do. Multi-family residential, office, retail, industrial and even land sales will be affected by changes in human transportation patterns and city connectivity.
As commutes grow shorter, your target market will expand geographically, and buyers will begin to consider locations they would have previously disregarded. Your approach will have to evolve to keep your business ahead of the curve.
And if high speed travel does lead to the development of whole cities with distinct purposes, you’re going to be busier than ever selling new properties and helping your clients move to more ideal locations. Having smart systems and processes in place will be more important than ever as you work to manage the uptick in business that’s sure to come with the adoption of high speed travel.
The advent technology like the hyperloop will also affect adoption of other rising technologies, like driverless cars. Driverless cars and hyperloops will integrate for more efficient travel. Driverless cars will handle transportation within cities and hyperloop will be used for transportation between them.
High speed travel is going to take a quantum leap forward in the next few years, and forward-thinking CRE professionals are watching closely and getting ready to respond.
If you want to learn more about how developments in transportation will affect the CRE industry, check out our blog on driverless cars.
