CHICAGO- Billionaire real estate tycoon Sam Zell sees a real estate industry dominated by a few large players in the future, a change that will be bring huge consolidation activity to the industry in coming years. In a Q&A held here, Zell spoke on this and other topics, ranging from over-investment in technology by industry to how real estate companies will become more focused on becoming operating companies instead of just dealmakers.

“The oligopolization of our business will lead to it becoming dramatically less cyclical,” said Zell. “And in the future, the big guys are going to be 20% more profitable than the small players.”

Equity Residential REIT will likely be moving into offering services to its huge client base of renters, says Zell. “Equity Residential interfaces with one million customers a year, 80,000 of which leave to buy a home. We are going to be offering these customers mortgages, insurance and other services.”