(United States) Sept 11 effects on North American Real Estate

  

 

Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York city and in fact the entire western world. Like all of you, I recall exactly what I was doing on that day and it will be with me for the rest of my life. What has happened in terms of North American real estate in the past decade is a trend that has been clearly identified. Over the past 500 years, the continent has seen rise to 5 major waves of migration. They can be summarized as follows: 

1)  Arrival of Mayflower to North America 
2)  Mass migration to North American mainland 
3)  Migration to cities 
4)  Migration to suburbs 
5)  Migration to Exurbs (small cities outside of major centres) 

The technology trends which are so present in our everyday lives have enabled one to telecommute from home instead of physically going to the workplace as in times past. This trend is responsible for people living in smaller centres and the terrorist attacks of Sept 11 only accelerated this effect of people moving out of major cities. We must never forget the memories of those thousands who died on that day and the heroic civil servants of New York who gave so much of themselves to help others.