Young Professionals Gather in Rome
Seminar held for the sixth time
In June, the annual INREV Young Professionals Seminar was held for the sixth time. This one and a half day event allows young professionals in the non-listed real estate industry to experience, learn and broaden their knowledge and to meet their peers to gain new perspectives on the industry.
This seminar was moderated by Johan van der Ende, from KBR-Finance and Dietrich Heidtman from AXA Real Estate, two veterans in real estate but with young spirits. The day began with a review of the current macro environment by Jonathan Tepper, Chief Editor of Variant Perception, a macroeconomic research group that provides services to hedge funds, banks and family offices.
Tepper compared the actions of central banks with the Code Red actions of the US marines, made famous in the Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson film “A Few Good Men.” He said that central banks cannot admit to what they are doing, because the public “can’t handle the truth”. According to Tepper, the banks want financial repression, negative real interest rates and stock/property markets to go up. He did not expect deflation but expected volatile markets with more crises in which real assets will perform well.
Tim Bellman, Head of Global Research Invesco Real Estate, followed with a talk on the global property markets. He discussed the key real estate indicators and the outlooks for the US, Europe and Asia which included his reasoning for why he expects the American real estate market to outperform the global market and European to underperform. He said that capital flows in the US are likely to put upward pressure on prices in gateway markets and real estate fundamentals are expected to improve in all sectors in almost all US cities in 2013. Driven by a weaker economic outlook, he predicted weaker rental growth forecasts in Europe.
Banks cannot admit what they are doing as the public “can’t handle the truth
Later on in the day, Manfredi Catella, CEO Hines Italy, gave an interactive presentation with delegates sending their questions via messaging devices. The audience was particularly interested in the effect of the political risk on the investment flow in Italy. Due to the instability of the political decisions the foreign investments have slowed down significantly. In addition, Catella discussed the investment opportunities in Milan and Rome with Hines estimating that in the coming five years about €20 billion of assets will be put on the market at attractive prices.
The second day started with Ric Lewis of Tristan Capital Partners, being interviewed by van der Ende. The discussion centred on the challenges that Lewis experienced when he started his own company and how to foster the proper culture for a successful company. The topic then moved onto alternative real estate sectors with Daniel Bowden of AXA Real Estate and Xavier Jongen of Bouwfonds discussing healthcare and student housing. According to Bowden, the demand for healthcare is driven by the increasing private provisions of public services while Jongen made a strong case for student housing due to the globalising of education and the lack of qualitative student houses.
The day ended with a presentation from Notker Wolf, Abbot Primate of the Benediction Order. He challenged the participants to look for the things in life that makes them happy and successful in their careers. It was an appropriate conclusion to a seminar focused on young professionals in the early stage of their careers.
