The Republican party is known for being conservative, fiscally conservative, socially conservative, religiously conservative, and so on. The latest salvo from the White House is to ban large institutional investors from gobbling up single family homes.

Conservative values are based on free markets. The solution to the cost of housing is not to artificially reduce demand. Imagine for a moment that government stepped in to reduce the cost of a burger at McDonalds by barring people above a specific income level from buying a Big Mac. The assumption is that the price of housing or a Big Mac is based on supply and demand. By crushing demand, houses will become more affordable all of a sudden?

The problem is that the input costs for a Big Mac have gone up and McDonalds is not going to sell burgers at a loss. The same is true in housing. Builders want to build affordable homes. But their input costs are preventing that from happening.

--------------

**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:**
Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)
iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)
Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)
LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)
YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)
Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)
Email: [podcast@victorjm.com](mailto:podcast@victorjm.com)
**Y Street Capital:**
Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)
Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)
Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)

Every year in early January the global tech industry converges on Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. I’ve attended this conference religiously in the past, and less frequently now that my focus is on real estate rather than technology.

This year, as with last year, the central theme to CES is AI. Virtually everything being showcased at CES is AI enabled in some way.

On yesterday’s show we talked about some announcements at the show that pertain to the construction side of real estate investing. On today’s show we are talking about some of the innovations in the Smart Buildings arena.

To be clear, many of the products present at this year’s show didn’t wait for a trade show to be announced or deployed in the market. In fact, our team has been designing and deploying AI enabled security cameras for several months. This includes facial recognition for building entry systems.

A lot of building management systems are using AI to predict weather, energy pricing, and usage patterns to reduce energy consumption and save on utilities.

------------

**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:**
Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)
iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)
Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)
LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)
YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)
Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)
Email: [podcast@victorjm.com](mailto:podcast@victorjm.com)
**Y Street Capital:**
Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)
Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)
Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)

Every year in early January the global tech industry converges on Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. I’ve attended this conference religiously in the past, and less frequently now that my focus is on real estate rather than technology.

This year, as with last year, the central theme to CES is AI. Virtually everything being showcased at CES is AI enabled in some way. There are also some clear differences and advances compared with last year. We’re going to be doing mini series on the podcast looking at some of the biggest advances and what will be the impact on real estate investing.

CES this year, particularly from the major heavy equipment manufacturers, made significant announcements focused on embedding AI and autonomy directly into construction equipment and the entire job site workflow. The theme has shifted from "automation is coming" to "AI is the new operating system for construction."

--------------

**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:**
Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)
iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)
Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)
LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)
YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)
Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)
Email: [podcast@victorjm.com](mailto:podcast@victorjm.com)
**Y Street Capital:**
Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)
Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)
Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)