Unprecedented Growth In The Auto Industry Is Giving Real Estate A Boost

The auto industry is making moves, and everybody wants a piece of the pie. From autonomous, self-driving vehicles to flying cars (there’s already a Slovakian prototype soon to market), the automotive industry is undergoing unprecedented growth, and Cushman & Wakefield’s Jeffrey Green said this will bring added business to the commercial real estate sector.  

Jeff is head of C&W’s Automotive Specialty Practice Group, which launched last week. The SPG is made up of an assortment of real estate and business advisers, auto manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and retailers and it has one overarching goal—to understand the inner workings and challenges of the auto industry, including labor issues, logistics and infrastructure concerns.

“Auto is one of those industries right now that everyone is talking about,” Jeff tells Bisnow. “In the tech world we have new players coming into the automotive industry—whether it’s Google or Apple or Uber—and they’re trying to create solutions of customers. The reason the industry is growing so much is because of the boom in technology.” 

Disruptive tech trends have already brought us more electric efficient, less fuel dependent vehicles, and Goldman Sachs projected in a report released last year 25% of all vehicles sold by 2025 will have electric engines. But that’s just the beginning. Last week Uber announced plans to test out a fleet of self-driving cars in Pittsburgh and other companies are following right on its heels.

As the auto industry grows, its real estate needs expand. Companies like Ford, General Motors and Uber continue to hire more people to accommodate their growth, and more people means larger spaces. Jeff says this will lead to companies needing more commercial space, from office space to manufacturing space.

C&W’s new auto specialty group will advise a number of clients, including car manufacturers, suppliers, and those companies providing the parts and components needed to produce cars.

“We see a lot of crossover with tech companies. I don’t think you can talk about auto in 2016 without talking about technology,” Jeff says.