[pimmen]

I think this will have unforseen effects on real estate.

If the population globally is shrinking, that means the likelihood that any given town will increase in size is also shrinking. At first, this might look like the real estate prices across the board will decrease but I don’t think so. I think that when people factor in that the town they are in currently will not increase in size they look at cities that already have good markets and move there instead, driving up the prices of already established cities.

This is basically what is already happening in European countries with falling birth rates.

[leetcrew]

this could also cause a vicious cycle for the towns and smaller cities. there's a certain amount of fixed cost to maintain existing infrastructure. if a significant number of properties become vacant, the municipality will have to start hiking taxes to keep the same revenue, making the place even less desirable and causing more tax base to leave.