UNDERWATER LIVING: The Future Of Real Estate

What if I told you one hundred years from now, the human population will be living in underwater cities and in 3D-printed homes?

The first thing that comes to mind when we hear real estate is apartment complexes and skyscrapers dotting the skyline, brick and mortar coming together to form a solid building where we can put our heads, whether for shelter or business, transactions between landlords and tenants with the realtor and agents in-between, negotiating an agreeable price and acquisition of property.

Real estate is basically the business of land use that the likelihood of something else did not exist. However, with land mass rapidly reducing and population increasing, other possibilities of providing shelter and meeting the prevalent housing deficit common to most countries of the world are being explored. Perhaps very soon, the focus of real estate will shift from land to water, eradicating the issue of congestion, deforestation and the many challenges characterized with land living.

Although mind-boggling, this feat is not impossible. Developed countries such as Dubai, America, Australia etc, are already running resorts and hotels underwater, and with a good number of clients, suffice it to say that the world would welcome the change.

With a spectacular view of the ocean, a cool and serene environment without the usual traffic and hiccups that daily plague us on land, the thought of resuming in an underwater office might not be so ridiculous or far-fetched. In fact, underwater living may well be the future of real estate; an option to consider with the various land reform policies that sometimes serve as bottlenecks to the practices of the industry. That is not however to say that the possibilities of living underwater will not come with its own challenges, first of which is the cost of implementation.

Unlike building on land, which has been mastered over the years and is being improved on, building in the middle of an ocean is no ordinary feat. Not many companies will be willing to invest in what some would consider a quixotic dream.

Asides from the capital intensive nature of such a project, some would reasonably argue it’s for the rich and extravagant and mass housing isn’t plausible. Besides, what is to say that the reforms and policies currently governing land use will not be extended towards water once there’s a shift?

The future is not clear but since current statistics show you can only live underwater a few weeks at a time, resorts and hotels seem like a worthy investment; a nice getaway from the confines of land living. It then poses the question: is the future of real estate really in underwater living and will it replace land living or just serve as a complement?

You are left to make your own conclusions and decide but you should remember that there was a time when people said it was impossible to fly but the Wright brothers proved that postulation wrong.

I’m not holding the crystal ball in my hands, predicting the future of real estate but history has shown that what was once impossible has not only been made possible but also improved on. The human mind has such amazing potentials; it seeks to always look beyond the impossible.

If real estate does progress to underwater living, and not just for the high end users but also for the masses, don’t be surprised after all, the only constant in life is change and the current trends already open up the endless possibilities inherent in real estate underwater.