Despite all the real estate booms and busts that we will see in major cities around the world over the next three decades, more than $100 trillion dollars will be added in real terms to the total value of global real estate, from $228 trillion in 2017 to 2035, simply because cities are expanding, economies are growing, and numbers of middle-class property owners are rising. And the COVID pandemic did not alter that trend, despite all the media hype.

Globalised travellers will remain near airport hubs. Beyond the impact of COVID in 2020-2021 onwards, all globalised executives will continue to need to be close to a large international airport, however virtual their teams. This ‘hub effect’ will also be true of high-speed trains. There is simply no substitute for "breathing the same air" when it comes to landing new contracts, or managing complex operations in other nations.

Those who are fed up with city life can afford the luxury of bucking the trend, going ‘back to nature’, getting out of cities for a greener life, greater security, lower costs. However, the wealthiest will just live in both, with two, three, ten or twenty homes. An increasing number of super-wealthy will have private helicopters and planes that link their offices, homes, hotels and holidays direct.

Future of the UK property market - 15 reasons for long term investment returns: UK property prices will be linked to the future of London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow and other major cities. As I predicted many years ago and more recently real estate has remained a good long-term investment, despite the 2008-9 crash for 15 reasons...

* "How AI Will Change your life - A Futurist's Guide to a Super-Smart World" - Patrick Dixon's latest book on AI is published in September 2024 by Profile Books.  It contains 38 chapters on the impact of AI across different industries, government and our wider world, including future impact of AI on transport, aviation, the construction industry, smart cities and the built environment.

Life expectancy by 2050 - how health care innovation will extend lifespan globally using next-generation tech including biotech and AI / Artificial Intelligence. While our world was forced to battle COVID and remains threatened by other potential viral pandemics, future generations will treat ageing as a disease. The life of every reader of this web page has increased by an average of 15 minutes in the last hour – the pattern in many nations of the world over the last two decades, in people with reasonable education and wealth. 

Take London, for example, where average life expectancy increased by a year between 2004–10, both for those at birth, and for those aged 65.  We have seen similar things in Japan and Germany. In many emerging nations, life expectancy is improving even faster. But what about the next 50‒100 years? 

* "How AI Will Change your life - A Futurist's Guide to a Super-Smart World" - Patrick Dixon's latest book on AI is published in September 2024 by Profile Books.  It contains 38 chapters on the impact of AI across different industries, government and our wider world, including future impact of AI on health care, AI in Pharma innovation, AI in genetics and biotech.