Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2026. Read them in this 18th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
By John Rivers, Co-founder and Managing Partner, imkore
For years, commercial real estate (CRE) has chased innovation at the edges – leasing platforms, tenant apps, and analytics dashboards that promise better decisions and happier tenants. But as we head into 2026, the real test won’t come from the next app. It will come from what’s under the hood — aging IT infrastructure that quietly holds everything together.
In many companies, that foundation hasn’t been touched in decades. Servers limp along, databases are patched just enough to stay online, and property management systems are stitched together with manual workarounds. Everything “works” – until it doesn’t. The problem is that this surface-level stability hides mounting costs, inefficiencies, and cybersecurity risks that can’t be ignored much longer.
This year, with tighter margins and growing investor pressure, infrastructure will finally move from the back room to the boardroom. The firms that treat IT as a strategic asset rather than a background expense will pull ahead. This is not because they will spend more, but because they will stop wasting time and money on inefficiency.
When we consider what is in store for the industry in 2026, there are three predictions we expect. Let’s break them down.
1. CRE Leaders Will Audit for Performance: In 2026, more real estate executives will begin asking questions like, “Are our systems slowing us down?”
A full infrastructure audit doesn’t have to be a costly overhaul. Take for example a mid-sized property management firm struggling to get financial reports to investors on time. The cause perhaps was not the finance team, but instead a data warehouse which hadn’t been updated in years. Once the data flow was restructured and modern storage solutions implemented, reports that used to take days were ready in minutes. Staff could focus on the work that mattered, and communication with investors improved overnight.
In 2026, more CRE firms will realize that performance reviews of their technology yield the same kind of ROI as energy audits for buildings. It is about measurable efficiency and cost savings.
2. Disaster Recovery Becomes a Business Priority: If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that rare disruptions aren’t rare anymore. From cyberattacks to severe weather, every organization needs to plan for downtime. Yet many CRE companies still have disaster recovery plans that haven’t been updated or tested in years.
In 2026, disaster recovery testing will become as essential as financial reporting. A single outage can translate into lost rent, penalties, and damaged relationships. Regular testing, updated backup processes, and cloud-based redundancy can prevent headaches and keep things moving.
3. Databases Will Drive Efficiency Gains: Every lease, tenant record, and payment lives in a database. Yet many are treated as “set it and forget it” systems. Things like bloated files, duplicate entries, and lagging response times that slow the entire operation seem to pile up.
In 2026, more firms will prioritize database optimization as a fast, affordable way to improve performance. One large developer reduced tenant onboarding time by nearly a third simply by tuning its database and cleaning up old data. These small changes add up to faster workflows, fewer errors, and better customer experiences without big capital investments.
In Conclusion
The conversation about technology in commercial real estate will finally shift from apps and analytics to the backbone that makes them work. CRE leaders don’t need to become IT experts, but they do need to start treating technology as a shared responsibility, not something delegated to “the tech team.”
Next year, firms that make small, targeted improvements will run faster, leaner, and smarter. It’s time for the industry to stop chasing penthouse ideas and start reinforcing the basement.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Rivers is the co-founder and managing partner of imkore, a consulting firm that helps real estate companies modernize their operations through technology and process improvement. Learn more at www.imkore.com.
