Dutch logistics hot property but site search challenging

The outlook for logistics property in the Netherlands is positive according to  Jeroen Gerritsen, managing director of Panattoni Netherlands.

When Covid first hit, everyone “held their breath” for a while but that soon changed and Gerritsen said if there were any late adopters of internet retail they have now disappeared.

“Everybody is shopping online and I doubt if people that have set up apps on their phone to do home shopping will change all of a sudden,” he told Real Asset Insight’s Richard Betts.

But the pandemic did not only affect e-commerce. Geritsen said that production companies have been addressing their supply chains having been faced with shortages when China closed its borders. “You don’t want to be caught off guard again,” he said. “Companies are now holding more stock than before, which makes sense, and is another boost for demand.”

He added that Brexit is also driving another push towards the Continent which both the Netherlands and Belgium are both benefiting from.

The industry’s key challenge is finding land. Whereas developers might previously have bought greenfield land from a local authority, now it is a case of buying an obsolete existing building, demolishing it, remediating the land and tackling ecological issues before development can start. “That makes it a bigger challenge,” Gerritsen said.

Click on the video above to watch the full interview or listen to the podcast below.