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Another year has brought another round of emerging trends in Portland’s real estate market. Industry professionals, during a breakfast forum on Wednesday, offered insights into what 2015 will bring.

Andrew Warren, Des Moines, Iowa-based director of real estate research for PricewaterhouseCoopers, was the keynote speaker at the event. He recapped 2014 and spoke of probable developments for the year ahead.

The rise of the 鈥�18-hour city鈥� was first on Warren’s list of emerging trends. While New York, San Francisco and Boston, for instance, have long been considered 24-hour cities, smaller ones like Portland have fewer people on the streets outside of work hours.

鈥淒owntown transformations combining the key ingredients of housing, dining, retail and walk-to-work to revitalize urban cores in lower-cost markets,鈥� he said.

Warren focused much of his discussion on baby boomers and millennials, their preferences, and what they’re doing to change the face of the workforce.

鈥淭he population will be making decisions in the next five years,鈥� he said. 鈥淏aby boomers will be choosing whether or not to retire, and millennials will be deciding whether they want to stay in the urban core or move to the suburbs.鈥�

Warren asserted that the foundation of commerce is eroding and spending on infrastructure is down by one-third since 2009.

鈥淚t’s time for the United States to get serious about infrastructure,鈥� he said.

Warren said that the U.S. needs to spend $3.6 trillion by 2020 on crumbling infrastructure such as surface transportation, schools, public parks, airports, wastewater treatment facilities, levees and inland waterways and dams.

Following Warren’s speech, Clyde Holland, founder of Holland Partner Group, moderated a forum. It included Warren, Portland-based Integra Realty Resources Senior Managing Director Brian Glanville, Capstone Partners Principal Chris Nelson, Greater Portland Inc. Vice President of Recruitment & Expansion Alisa Pyszka, and TMT Development President and CEO Vanessa Sturgeon.

Each panelist offered a unique viewpoint to the discussion, but the need for more office space and industrial space in the Portland area was a recurring theme.

鈥淰acancy rates have dropped to 4.9 percent,鈥� Glanville said. 鈥淪omeone had better build something.鈥�

Sturgeon, who’s currently developing Park Avenue West, and Nelson both said 2014 has brought a new flood of institutional investors into the Portland market. Nelson said she doesn’t see it diminishing soon.

鈥淚t’s getting easier to find institutional capital to invest in the Portland market,鈥� she said.

鈥淧ortland land is on people’s radar,鈥� Sturgeon agreed. 鈥淚 think we’ll continue to see institutional development in 2015.鈥�