5G mobile is coming to the UK. While largely still reserved to certain locations and phone networks, the roll-out is set to accelerate fast and it is expected to be available across the country within the next few years.

5G will lead to connections more than 100 times as fast as current 4G networks, which means users will be able to download a film in just a couple of seconds even when out and about.

It is set to have an impact on multiple real estate sectors: in retail, shoppers will be able to stream a catwalk video of clothes being modelled within seconds, enabling them to make decisions about clothes without trying them on, while the leisure sector will see a boom in VR and augmented reality experiences, but what about the impact on industrial property?

5G will need more industrial space

5G will accentuate the already high volumes of data being produced by millions of digital devices every day, leading to a need for more data centres to process and store this information and improve data transfer.

Demand for these centres will be seen in a variety of locations, as high speed fibre optic cabling means that signals can be transferred in a split second with distance from the devices involved now mostly immaterial. As technology continues to evolve, requirements for this type of space will undoubtedly carry on growing.

5G will steer the driverless revolution

The data transfer capacity of 5G will support the further development, and then the potential mass adoption, of driverless vehicles. Through stronger mobile signals, such vehicles will be able to communicate with each other and with smart city networks more swiftly and take in more data in order to safely negotiate city streets.

This in turn will lead to requirements for warehouses changing as goods vehicles will be able to travel further, and not be limited by the working capacity of the driver, potentially opening up brand new geographies as being appropriate for warehouse space.  

5G will open up land for alternative uses

Future ‘car-lite’ cities will be revolutionary for real estate, as lower vehicle numbers will free up valuable space currently occupied by roads and car parks. This in turn could provide land for development into any new urban data centres that are needed and also potentially ease some of the competition for space for last-mile warehousing and residential uses currently in high demand in many city centres.

This blog is inspired by a theme in Prospects, Savills research programme examining a range of themes and issues affecting commercial real estate in the Asia-Pacific region. 

Further information

Read more: Prospects Asia-Pacific Real Estate Intelligence