“What exactly is it that you do?”
It’s a question that will be all too familiar to anyone working in real estate. Readers, I’m sure, will be armed with plenty of words to describe your vocation and sector to friends, family and neighbours: built environment, real estate, real assets, investment, infrastructure and so on. The penny usually drops when you say property. “Ah! Property!” is the usual response, swiftly followed by: “So, you’re an estate agent! Where do you think house prices are headed?”
I say this partly in jest, but it exposes a fundamental flaw in the built environment’s ability to communicate coherently. Data compiled by The Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests that 1.3% of all land in the UK is designated as residential, a figure dwarfed by commercial stock which accounts for 7.4% of that total. Multiple studies have suggested that we spend 90% of our time inside buildings – yet commercial real estate fails to register in the consciousness of the UK public in the same way as housing.
This matters as it presents real estate with a serious perception problem. If you stopped 100 people on a regional high street and asked them “what is a landlord?” answers would vary from “Mr. Monopoly” to other replies unsuitable to a family chronicle. Would any one respondent volunteer that the success of commercial landlords can affect pension returns?
This perception challenge isn’t a new one. Perhaps only the weather challenges housing as the most common conversation topic among the UK public. Yet regeneration and the impact of commercial buildings fails to resonate beyond our sector.
It’s our own fault of course. Every profession loves to make what it does sound more complicated than it really is. And jargon is the weapon most frequently deployed to do so.
Commercial real estate is very good at preaching to the choir. Pick up any report and you’ll be met with an alphabet soup of abbreviations, industry vernacular and terms that I still have to Google after almost 15 years in the industry. We don’t apply the same energy and focus to communicating the benefits of commercial real estate to the public in a language that they understand.
If you don’t believe me, believe the data. ING Media’s gap analysis research shows what the sector is talking about compared the rest of country. Over the past 12 months, real estate has spent more of its time, talking about business (23.3%) than culture (22.2%). The wider public, when it does talk about topics that overlap with our sector leads with culture (26.2%) and sustainability (23.8%). To engage better with the public, this sector would do well to talk less about itself (business) and more about the impact it can have (culture and sustainability).
Industry specific language may be required when we are talking within the built environment– but anything that smacks of jargon should be dropped outside our bubble.
Having cut my teeth in real estate analysis I am habitually drawn to the strength and power of data. Property investment is itself built on data, and as smart buildings, smart cities and environmental responsibilities evolve, it is more important than ever.
Yet the real impact of commercial property won’t be found in any spreadsheet. Headlines tell us we are in the grip of a housing crisis, that the high street is dead and so is the office. I don’t agree with all of those, but it’s clear the built environment is evolving at pace. The pandemic has served to challenge people’s perceptions of what we use the built environment for and why, which presents as a huge opportunity when it comes to communicating the value of places and spaces.
So how does this all tie into perception? In principle the benefits of commercial real estate are quite easy to sign-post. My advice would be to take the advice the US Navy first offered in 1960: KISS, or Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Would your neighbour understand the language you’re using? Does your message pass the elevator test? And – to borrow a mantra I’ve used throughout my career in property – ask yourself whether what you are saying “is fit for human consumption.”
A jargon-free, solutions-based, content approach must be our collective target. Do so well and we can shift perception of what we do away from big-bad Mr. Monopoly to being seen as stewards of the spaces where the public chooses to live, work and play.
