Mark Allnutt, executive director – Europe, Greystar

How would you describe the 2023 real estate year?

I would argue that 2023 was a mixed year, as macro-economic challenges were counterbalanced by encouraging signs and long-term favourable demographic trends in pockets of the market. While some corners of the real estate industry have expressed concerns over the market’s short-term prospects, we have found several reasons for optimism in the residential real estate arena.

Student housing has proved to be resilient, and we undertook a number of transactions, which included our re-entry into the Spanish purpose-built student accommodation market and an interesting office-to-residential conversion in Paris.

We are seeing build-to-rent continue to gather pace across Europe, and we forward-funded a number of new developments in key markets, including the UK and the Netherlands, ranging from larger-scale regeneration projects to brownfield town-centre sites.

What are the main challenges facing the sector and your company in 2024?

We believe there is a shortage of housing across key urban conurbations in Europe. At the same time, we see opportunities in the tight market.

Regardless of the city or country, the main barrier is uncertainty – be that political, economic or regulatory. Institutional investors are attracted to stability, so in a year of elections across Europe, we need firm commitments from political parties to streamline the development process and keep housing regulation unchanged.

What are likely to be the chief positive influences on strategy in 2024?

The success of our strategy is driven by our insight into key demographic trends, including population growth, urbanisation and household formation, which are all closely interlinked.

Looking to 2024, we expect the long-term trend towards renting in Europe to continue, with supply-side pressures and rising house prices driving an increasing need for professional, high-quality rental homes to meet demand.

With more than 30 years under our belt delivering purpose-designed and purpose-built homes for rent globally, we are well-positioned to be part of the solution to the continued housing demand and supply imbalance facing Europe.

We believe the ability to deliver much-needed new rental housing across Europe is fundamental for maintaining confidence in the residential property sector, while supporting wider economies and consumers looking for property that provides a good quality of living at attainable prices.

What changes (perhaps in terms of emphasis on sectors or geography, or the scope of activities) have you made or do you envisage making in response to the challenges, regulations, opportunities or technologies that have emerged in the last year or so?

The well-documented challenges facing the economy, namely elevated interest rates and inflation, are likely to continue well into 2024. Despite this, we are confident in the enduring fundamentals of the residential market across the globe, and professionally managed rental housing has time and time again proved itself an all-weather asset class that can deliver through economic cycles.

Our research shows that housing supply in Europe will contract by a further 10% by 2028. This reinforces our strategy to address the undersupply of high-quality and desirable rental accommodation in cities. We will continue to seek out attractive opportunities to grow our footprint, looking at both existing and emerging city centres across the areas in which we operate – from the Netherlands and France, through to Greater London.

Looking back at 2023, what has given you the greatest inspiration for the year ahead?

Last year marked Greystar’s 10th anniversary in Europe and 30 years since we were founded in the USA. In that time, there has been remarkable growth in the professionally managed rental sector, and we are encouraged by the opportunities that still lie ahead.

Of note, we have invested significantly in our in-house global innovation team, to make sure that we identify new opportunities and take a design-led approach to deliver a customer-centric and innovative proposition. Driven by our excellent and engaged team, this means we can expect new programmes and technologies to ensure we keep up with how people want to live, and I expect a greater focus on sustainability as a result.