AI in CRE - Which Age Group Wins?
AI’s reshaping CRE careers fast. Gen Z might win, Boomers might adapt—and Millennials? They're stuck in a skills crunch. Read the playbook.
Would you rather be 22, 32, or 42?
If you’re 32 and mid-career in CRE, the next few years could make or break your trajectory. If you’re 22, this may be your golden ticket. And if you’re 42… well, you could be in the best position of all — if you act fast.
WE’RE GETTING IT ALL WRONG
There is an assumption in the business world, echoed within real estate, that the people most at risk from the rise in AI are the young, the first-jobber graduates. The thought being that AI will be able to do all the jobs that juniors did historically. And the need for junior employees is going to fall, possibly quite dramatically.
But we’re getting this all wrong!
In reality, the young are best placed to thrive in an AI-mediated business world.
You’d rather be 22, than 32 or 42 in the world we’re going into.
CRE IS BEING RESHAPED
AI is fundamentally reshaping CRE operations and career paths.
Value is on the move.
Take these examples:
In Valuation & Investment, faster and more data-rich underwriting is emerging via AI, and we’re seeing a shift from subjective models to real-time, data-driven insights.
In Asset Management we’re increasingly used to predictive maintenance, smart buildings and 24/7 tenant bots - reducing cost and boosting sustainability.
In Brokerage & Leasing AI-led lead generation is emerging, alongside content creation and negotiation support. Brokers increasingly rely on AI “copilots.”
And in Development & Construction site selection, heavily supported by AI, is arriving, alongside drones for progress monitoring and real-time risk analytics.
THE “AI NATIVE” IMPERATIVE
With everything becoming imbued with AI, we’re going to see some fundamental changes in how businesses operate.
For example, AI is breaking the age-old link between labour and output. It used to be that as your business grew you needed more people, but today that causal link has been broken. We’re entering the world of “Fast, Agile, Ultra-Productive Superteams” where individual productivity is multiplying, rivalling entire teams.
Likewise the old fallback of ‘we have data’ so you have to pay us, is going away. Having data isn’t going to matter much in the future. Unless you have very particular proprietary data it’s not going to have much value as such. AI will commoditise the aggregation and processing of data. We will be making more use of data in the future but given the new market dynamics brought on by AI, its value will trend towards zero. Competitive advantage will stem from strategic interpretation, not access to data. The profit is moving, but towards the canny human, not towards the hoarder of data.*
And across the board key human value will shift towards soft skills: strategic thinking, negotiation, storytelling, trust.
To operate successfully in this world you will have to be “AI Native”.
OUR ARCHETYPES
Which means what for our archetypal 22, 32 and 42-year olds?
Let’s do a SWOT analysis for each of them:
22-Year-Old New Entrant (Graduate Analyst / Junior Surveyor)
Strengths
High digital literacy & comfort with AI tools
No legacy workflows; high upskilling potential
Growth mindset orientation
Weaknesses
Lacks experience & market context
Limited network
Performs highly automatable tasks
Opportunities
Leapfrog career ladders via AI specialisation
Carve out niche new roles (AI Translator, PropTech Analyst)
Become indispensable to leadership by interpreting AI outputs
Threats
Entry-level work being rapidly commoditised
Risk of AI substituting foundational experience
May become “AI tool operators” with no strategic exposure
32-Year-Old Mid-Career Professional (Associate Director / Senior Manager)
Strengths
Deep domain knowledge & deal history
Strong professional network
Client management & team leadership
Weaknesses
Rigid legacy workflows
Excel modelling proficiency is devaluing
Time-poor for upskilling
Opportunities
Reframe role as human-machine orchestrator
Use AI to scale client work and spot model bias
Transition to tech-enabled strategic roles or into proptech
Threats
Skills from first decade are being automated
Risk of being squeezed between AI-native juniors and strategy-driven seniors
Devaluation of their proprietary info advantage
42-Year-Old Established Leader (Partner / Managing Director)
Strengths
C-suite influence, deep networks, strategic acumen
Authority to fund & lead enterprise-wide transformation
Proven in deal-making and capital raising
Weaknesses
Often distanced from day-to-day AI tools
May resist change due to legacy success
Entrenched in outdated models
Opportunities
Architect firm-wide AI adoption and new operating models
Forge alliances with tech leaders
Steer M&A for AI capabilities and AI-aligned assets
Threats
Misallocating resources due to limited AI literacy
Losing market relevance to AI-native firms
Internal resistance to organisational change
For all the archetypes I think the “Opportunities” quadrant is the most interesting. But whereas the 22 year-old just has to double down on being who they are and leveraging that, for the 32 and 42 year-olds they have to make very distinct changes to who they are to grasp these opportunities.
On the face of it, the older two need the younger one more than vice versa. Being naturally “AI Native” is a superpower.
That said, all of them are going to need a proactive and tailored strategy to adapt to these new realities. Being experienced actually feels like a bit of a bug whereas being inexperienced could be considered a feature.
Hard to grasp though it is I think we are at an analogous time to when the Model T Ford first rolled off the production line. When this happened in 1908 the US was producing somewhere between two and three million horse saddles a year, in an industry generating, in today’s money, $2-3 billion in annual revenue. But their market was about to collapse. Whilst I am not predicting a collapse in the CRE industry I do feel it operates somewhat like a posh saddlery. Awaiting a tsunami of change. But mostly looking elsewhere.
Except the 22 year-old. Perhaps?
STRATEGIC PLAYBOOKS
Either way, whatever the degree of change, one can always devise a “Playbook” to adapt.So here’s what each archetype needs to do across three axes: Skills, Positioning and Network
For the 22 year-old they’ll need a “Agility Playbook”:
In terms of “Skills” they need to become deeply proficient in the major frontier AI models and assorted standout services, like Google’s NotebookLM, but also learn Python if possible (the new Excel…). In addition they should try to use as many of the leading AI PropTech tools as possible, such as those dealing with Lease Abstraction and Underwriting etc.
Regarding “Positioning” they should ONLY work for companies actively leaning into AI, and should be actively pushing for new roles involving working “Human + AI”. They have to be the go-to people for anything AI.
And for their “Network” they should still dive into traditional CRE groups but also try and join in any PropTech WhatsApp or Slack groups they can.
Reread their opportunities above - this is how they’ll make them happen.
For the 32 year-old they’ll need a “Pivot Playbook”:
In terms of “Skills” they HAVE to become AI Literate, and solidly skilled prompters. And a deep dive into “Change Management” wouldn't go amiss, as they’ll be at the centre of moving old to new.
Regarding “Positioning” their role is going to become less about doing, and more about “Orchestrating”. A few weeks ago we wrote about “Agent Bosses” and this is where our 32 year-old should be heading.
And their “Network” has to change considerably as well. Moving beyond real estate to product managers, AI VCs and AI Consultants.
This is going to be tough and is why this archetype is at the most risk.
For the 42 year-old they’ll need a “Architect Playbook”:
Their “Skills” will also need to encompass AI. Sure they absolutely must become daily users of AI and weave it into all their work, but they also need to think hard about AI ethics, governance and data. It’s going to be their job to provide the AI infrastructure foundations, strategic guidance, and AI Policies through which their companies will be working. If a company’s AI goes rogue it’ll be their heads on the block, so they need to know what they are doing.
“Positioning” is their big thing. Redefining their company’s operating procedures (following the unbundling and rebundling we’ve discussed many times) is at their door. They’ll need more data skills, and more AI technologists, and they’ll probably be looking to buy or partner with rising PropTech startups.
Their “Network”, as with the others, needs to extend beyond CRE and become much more focussed on keeping up with the latest technologies and thought leadership. Not least because all their customers are going to be down this rabbit hole, and they must know how to understand how they’re thinking, and how AI is likely to change the nature of their demand for CRE.
So the 42 year-old’s big worry will be being outflanked by more tech-forward competitors, and simply becoming obsolete.
They may be less exposed than the 32-year-old, not because they are immune to disruption, but because their seniority gives them the agency to shape responses — assuming they choose to use it, whereas their younger colleague could do exactly the right things but be snookered because their company messed it up.
All things
#SpaceasaService
Exploring how AI and technology are reshaping real estate and cities to serve the future of work, rest, and play.
MODERATING FACTORS
It’s not all about age groups though. There are four main moderating factors that will also have a large impact on all of them.
First off is “Mindset” - an individual with a lean-in, forward-thinking, curious and keen-to-learn (and unlearn) mindset, across archetypes, will outperform. Dramatically.
Secondly, your “Specialisation” counts. Recently we looked deep at where value is likely to move to in CRE - you must be cognisant of whether your specialism is about to be commoditised.
Thirdly, your “Organisational Context” matters - are you working for a company aiming to become fully AI Native? If not, beware. But also think about organisation types. Global firms will give you access to tools and training, but likely you’ll have little agency. A Boutique firm would suit those attracted to agile, risk-tolerant, somewhat unstructured setups. A Startup might be where you should be but we all know the game there - high immersion but high risk. Or perhaps an Institution? You’ll probably get access to those rare areas of proprietary data and decent budgets to play with, but like the Global firms these tend to be pretty top down places.
And fourthly “Geography” matters. Try and operate out of either “Mature Hubs” or “Emerging Markets”. The former offers rapid adoption but strong competition, the latter a bit more time, less exposure - but the opportunity to be where leapfrogging is possible.
Get all four moderating factors right and you are away!
TBH though, just get your ‘Mindset’ right. In all archetypes that will probably make the most difference. Get it wrong and the 22 year-old won’t get a job (worth having) and the 32 and 42 year-olds are at redundancy’s door.
CONCLUSION: STRATEGIC TAKEAWAYS
I think the first thing to try and really internalise is that we are entering a revolutionary era of change. We have had several decades of iterative change but what is going on now is something much more profound. Once again I’d like to hark back to how in real estate we need to be thinking 5, 10 or more years ahead, and the near certainty that a great deal is going to change by 2030, let alone 2035.
So for your CRE career to survive and thrive will probably require degrees of reinvention. The “Company” and how it operates is changing fast. Automation will target anything that is structured, repeatable, predictable, and increasingly with Generative AI a lot that is random, creative and unstructured. Value will still exist, but it will concentrate in synthesis, strategic judgement, and trust-building - areas where human-AI collaboration excels.
Our 22 year-old, contrary to public belief, is maybe the most advantaged by all of this. The smart ones at least have a growth mindset and AI fluency. Their value will be high and their progression much faster than we are used to. After all they don’t have to learn the past, just push for the future.
Most at risk are our 32 year-olds. Potentially stuck in a pincer move. Their old skills are becoming less valuable whilst they don’t have the new skills, or perhaps mindset for the new ones? If they don’t pivot they are in danger.
But most impactful could be our 42 year-olds. Their great opportunity is to rebuild their companies for the AI-native era. Not easy, but the few who manage it will do great business. Those who don’t will just fade away.
But overall, get that “Mindset” right and whoever you are, you’ll do great!
OVER TO YOU
Where do you stand? How vulnerable, or not, are you? Tell me about your mindset? How are you thinking about the future? I would love to hear people’s views on this.
* Of course this is a generalisation. There is high value data out there, but maybe 60% of the industry’s data needs will be wholly commoditised, with a sliding scale of value for the remaining 40%. People talk incessantly about “Data” in CRE (whilst actually doing little with it) and assume it equates to value. However, in an AI world, when something can be assembled quicker and faster, it tends to get used more, but its intrinsic value drops precipitously, as it has no scarcity value. That does not mean there are no profits to be made out of data, just that where they come from is moving.
Thank you for reading Trillion Dollar Hashtag. Here’s to rethinking the future of real estate together.
Best regards,
All things
#SpaceasaService
Exploring how AI and technology are reshaping real estate and cities to serve the future of work, rest, and play.