Real estate, given its functional and intrinsic value, is a corollary of social forces. It is the brick-and-mortar response to how we live our lives and which goods and services we demand. As an asset class, it naturally evolves as society evolves; whether it is the emergence of data centres in response to the rise of cloud computing, value propositions in building design being influenced by a growing environmental consciousness, or trends in land use being driven by urbanisation.

Demographics is arguably the most interesting of all these forces. Given the power of demographics to fundamentally shape society’s demand patterns for all real estate sectors, it should be a key consideration for any long-term investor in the asset class.

One such example is the connection between ageing populations in Asian economies such as Japan, China, and South Korea, and the potential emergence of senior-living real estate as a large, investible sector in a region where there is none