MIPIM Proptech NYC: Is real estate an asset or an operating business?

LISTEN: Is real estate still comprised of assets? Or is it becoming an operating business? Dror Poleg poses some big questions in the first episode of our Big Apple Breakfast podcast series Dror Poleg joined EG bright and early on day one of MIPIM Proptech New York, held in partnership with MetaProp, as his new book, Rethinking Real Estate, launches worldwide this week. The co-chair of the Urban Land Institute’s Technology and Innovation Council in New York explained that the book, which he fondly refers to as his “love letter to real estate”, examines the history of how humans have lived and how the assets that support those lives have changed over time. It then looks forward to how technology and digital disruption look set to transform lives and, by default, assets in the future. “I want people to rethink the meaning of location, the meaning of visibility, the meaning of accessibility, the power of zoning laws… and at the asset level I want people to consider: is real estate still what we assume it is when we allocate capital against it? Is it still a safe bet against inflation? Is it still a source of very stable income? Is it still an asset and not an operating business? Because it looks like real estate is becoming much more hands-on and increasingly reliant on its operators.” He added that the wider impact of tech on asset classes – from residential through to retail, commercial, leisure and industrial – is a story that everyone in technology and real estate should be plugged into. To send feedback, e-mail emily.wright@egi.co.uk or tweet @EmilyW_9 or @estatesgazette