Hello World! Welcome Friends! No doubt technological advances and digitalization have augmented connectivity, accelerated businesses, and discovered new resources, but the ghastly rate of increasing population cannot be ignored. From healthcare facilities to education, from nutrition to automotive, the increasing population has affected every business and every walk of life.
As per statistics, the population is growing by 1.10 percent every year. That means that annually 83 million people are added to the planet, making it not just scary but also alarming. While the population is growing exponentially, facilities can only progress arithmetically owing to depletion of natural resources, inflation, and global amplification of demands for necessities.
The more people, the more residential units are required. Not only are slums and villages overcrowded, but since the last century, metropolitan cities have also borne the brunt of population flooding. Villagers and people from underdeveloped cities travel to metropolitans for the sake of better education, job opportunities, and healthcare.
It is a common notion that the flood of overpopulation is slowly engulfing the housing industry too. This is partially true; this industry unlike other businesses has both challenges to combat and opportunities to avail when it comes to overpopulation, some of which are discussed below:
Opportunities
1. Changing Demands
While overpopulation is surely cumbersome to tackle and multiple industries have suffered at the hands of it, housing has a lot to offer. From small residential units to bungalows and penthouses, a plethora of people moving to urban cities require different forms of residences depending upon affordability, scalability, and aesthetic choices.
Gone are the days when the majority of the population preferred self-owned housing, with simple rooms and an even simpler lifestyle. Movement from place to place was unlikely, as jobs and educational needs were simpler. Joint family systems streamlined housing units, with one or even multiple families living in a single residential space, which was traditionally owned by ancestors and required minimal repair and maintenance.
Today, owing to both genders working, remote jobs, multiple sources of earnings, and higher livelihood expectations, the concept of nuclear families has come forth, which has pushed people to rent properties as small as one-room or two-room apartments. Not only can they afford rent and eating out, but also believe they can secure their private lives better in this way.
As per statistics, 82.2% of the US population thinks the nuclear family system living in rental units is more favorable in the long run for better family dynamics, whereas only 29% of people, that too majority being elderly think that living in traditional self-owned single housing units are more essential for saving costs and keeping families bound together.
2. Immigration Trends
With growing immigration trends all across the globe, for the pursuit of better living standards, escape from war zones and political instabilities, getting secure and high-paid jobs and most of all access to better education and healthcare, different types of housing are now in demand. Today, the majority of people around the globe prefer rental properties owing to quick packing and unpacking, unfurnished when needed to move to another place, and fewer hassles of repair and maintenance. As per statistics, immigrants add a whopping 3.7 trillion dollars to the US housing wealth, which is surely a positive addition to the nation’s economy.
Gone are the days when people immigrated to only large cities with better facilities and infrastructure. Today, thanks to immigration policies and lenient inter-governmental rules for migration, small and unapproached neighborhoods within different countries are being considered by immigrants and refugees, increasing the demand for housing in these unpopulated areas to a great extent, and benefitting the overall housing industry. Research proves that immigrants add to the maintenance of less desirable rural areas, making them feasible alternatives for middle and lower-class residents.
3. Innovative Construction
With environmental concerns on the rise, state authorities have intervened to a great extent and planned more sustainable and eco-friendly ways of construction. From energy conservation to recycling construction waste, new and affordable housing units are now on the rise, all because of innovative construction technologies.
Instilling green roofs ensures heat insulation in summers and warmth in winters and is not just thermal friendly but also cost-effective. Similarly, green windows are made from alloys that repel heat and are a perfect housing solution for tropical lands. Installing solar panels for electricity generation and windmills technology in areas where sunlight is adequate and winds are in favor, not only produces adequate electricity for houses but also saves national energy for industrial and state use. Many developing countries have welcomed such innovations for better housing solutions and easing the public’s lives by introducing energy-efficient alternatives.
Threats
1. Expanded Urbanization
As much as overpopulation has presented opportunities for the housing industry worldwide, it is no less than a threat too. Expanded urbanization within many countries today has led to illegal usage of resources, which include housing units. In many economies, due to the absence of improper checks and balances, housing and residential units are being misused, rents are not being paid and taxes are concealed through corrupt state officers, leading to an overall downgrading of housing wealth.
To generate new housing spaces owing to this urbanization is not easy for governments. The state departments need enormous planning and vigilance, leading to overall high costs due to research and development. From the elimination of forests to improper resource allocation, expansion in urban area space is not always in favor of the housing industry.
2. Higher Costs and Affordability
The housing shortage is another pitfall overpopulation brings with itself. Owing to the shortage of housing units, prices, and rents are sky-high in most populous economies today. Taking care of residential units is not only tedious but also risky, as minor negligence often leads to bigger problems in the future.
To cater to repair and maintenance issues of numerous housing units is not easy. For this purpose, real estate and property managers in overpopulated economies tend to use digital tools such as building maintenance management software, through which housing units can be aligned in a sequence of needing urgent repairs.
Such services not only streamline costs but also help property managers look after housing units more efficiently. The rental history, overhauling, construction issues, and past investments done on a rental unit, all are stored through such software, and the housing database is easily accessed and safely stored.
3. Quality
To cater to the mounting population, the housing industry is vulnerable to compromises on quality. Today, many economies have suffered at the hands of low and substandard-quality residential units which are later rented out at high rates, leading to overall misuse of resources.
From roof leakages to the dismantling of housing facilities, such low-grade constructed houses bring forth more costs and less comfort in the long run. C-grade construction not only uses substandard construction materials but is a threat to residents as it does not guarantee the longevity of the housing unit.
Conclusion
To conclude, it can be said that overpopulation poses a threat to many underdeveloped economies’ housing industries as catering to wide strata with different income classes and demands is surely not easy.
However, the same overpopulation has brought forth many opportunities for housing industries in developed economies by rise in immigration, and customization demands by the general public. Through the implementation of prudent strategies for resource allocation, and efficient forecasting, the housing industry can surely thrive in developing economies, and overcome overpopulation-related threats.
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