The shift of population from rural to urban areas, a structural driver of real estate demand.
Related terms
- Zoning
Regulation dividing land into areas with permitted uses and development limits.
- Agglomeration economies
The productivity benefits that arise when firms and people locate close together.
- Bid-rent gradient
The way land rents and prices decline with distance from a city's centre or key node; it explains why Cairo's New Administrative Capital or Riyadh's core comma…
- Central place theory
A model explaining the size and spacing of settlements by the market areas needed to support goods and services; useful for retail catchment and site selection…
- Consumer price index (CPI)
A measure of inflation tracking the price of a basket of consumer goods; leases and construction contracts are often indexed to CPI, and it drives real vs nomi…
- Currency peg
A fixed exchange rate holding a local currency against a reference currency, usually the US dollar; the GCC currencies are pegged, which gives Gulf real estate…
- Demand forecasting
Projecting future need for space from demographic and economic drivers.
- Demographic dividend
The growth boost an economy gets when a large share of its population is of working age; Egypt, Nigeria, and much of Sub-Saharan Africa are riding this, underp…