4 Things to Know About Occupancy Sensors and CRE

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According to Condeco, the typical office utilization rate is just 39 percent, meaning many offices simply have too much space, which is why they employ occupancy sensors to determine where they can downsize and what spaces are not being used frequently or at all. Here is a brief description of how occupancy sensors work, what they cannot do and what benefits they can offer building owners and tenants.

How Do Occupancy Sensors Work?

 There are a few different types of occupancy sensors. The typical sensors use infrared, ultrasonic waves, microwave or something like Bluetooth. These sensors monitor occupancy by detecting heat signatures. Ultrasonic occupancy sensors use the Doppler effect to detect movement in a space with many obstacles. Building owners and tenants have started to use this technology to track space. The data the occupancy sensors provide can give insight into a space’s occupancy rate, traffic flow, timing and more. The analytics can also narrow down which desks are used most frequently in a flexible office arrangement.

What Don’t Occupancy Sensors Do?

 One thing occupancy sensors will not do is monitor individual employees’ productivity. The sensors can detect how long a table or desk has been occupied, the data won’t reveal sensitive information like what a person is working on while the desk is occupied. For example, occupancy sensors cannot reveal that Ashley arrived at the office at 7:45 am, spent 15 minutes making coffee in the break room and leaves her desk every 30 minutes. Occupancy sensors do not violate the privacy of employees.

Allows Companies to Cut Costs

Companies often spend more on their real estate than necessary, simply because they do not know how much space they need or utilize. The data that is collected by occupancy sensors allows companies to cut costs by pinpointing exactly what they need and how they can adapt it to their company’s dynamic workforce.

Instant Views of Workspace Usage 

With occupancy sensors, tenants and building owners can instantly see if desks and working spaces are not being used in the demand they should be. This can be done with any internet-enabled device. This can help weed out under-used or in short supply desks.

No IT Impact

Since many occupancy sensors are cloud-based and run outside of your corporate network, there is no impact on your company’s network or IT department. This makes it easy to implement this technology and does not require any changes within your IT department.

Small Cost 

You can replace expensive walk-through audits with occupancy sensors that are discreet and can be used on a temporary or permanent basis to give you better insight into your workspace usage. The cost of the occupancy sensor will typically be very small in comparison to the cost savings that will be produced by only having an efficient and utilized workspace in your office.

Occupancy sensors are a non-invasive way of finding out what space is being underutilized in your office so that you can better optimize the space and cut unnecessary costs.

Here’s Where Single-Family Rental Opportunities are Growing the Most

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The single-family rental property market has been one of the hottest markets in commercial real estate in 2018, in certain places such as Dallas, it’s actually better to rent than purchase a home. Let’s take a closer look at where single-family rental properties are growing the most.

The Numbers Behind the Market

According to CoreLogic’s Single-Family Rental Index, Las Vegas has led the nation in year-over-year rent price increases throughout the first half of 2018 and high-end rental prices accelerated from January to June 2018 compared to the low-end cohort.

Of the top 20 metros, Las Vegas boasted the highest year-over-year increase in single-family rents per from January to June 2018, followed by Orlando and Phoenix. Honolulu saw its first year-over-year rent price increase in May 2018 at 1 percent, after seven consecutive months of decreasing year-over-year rent prices.

CoreLogic also found that metro areas with limited new construction, low rental vacancies and strong local economies that attract new employees typically have stronger rent growth. During the first half of 2018, both Orlando and Phoenix saw tremendous year-over-year rent price growth averaging 5.2 and 4.7 percent from January to June 2018.

Increased Interest in Single-Family Rental Property 

According to Multifamily Executive, since 2006, the number of Americans living in rental properties has soared to nearly 37 percent, the largest amount since 1965. An analysis by the Urban Institute found that over the past decade, single-family for rent has been the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. housing market.

The high demand for single-family rentals has encouraged many developers to enter the market with a new product: cohesive single-family rental communities filled by niche renters with different lifestyle needs than those who rent apartments.

Factors That are Boosting Single-Family Rent

Industry experts have said that the current economic climate has created the perfect environment for the single-family rental market. Between the tight job market, student debt and buyers struggling to make the down payment, single-family rentals are an alternative for purchasing a home

With stricter lending terms, many buyers do not have the credit scores to qualify for a mortgage loan which is keeping them out of the buying market. Although many middle-class renters don’t have the money for a down payment, they do have the funds to spend on a rental home.

Another trend that boosts the appeal of single-family rental homes is lifestyle changes such as millennials having children and needing more space than an apartment can offer, but not in the financial situation to be able to purchase a home. Single-family rentals are a great medium choice that millennials have taken advantage of, especially in markets like Las Vegas and Phoenix. According to Rent Café, a little over half of the total number of single-family rental homes in the U.S. market are occupied by families. Although on average single-family rentals are about $1,000 more a month than an apartment, these rentals offer extra space, more privacy and a greater neighborhood feel.