Rasmussen: uncertainty ahead for global real estate markets

The real estate industry must brace itself for a long period of uncertainty and volatility, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Founder & Chairman, Alliance of Democracies Foundation, told Real Asset Media’s Richard Betts at the EPRA Conference.

“There is no doubt that the real estate market will be hugely impacted by the destabilization of the world that we have seen”, he said. “We’ve seen how inflation rates have gone up, but the biggest risk right now is a prolonged conflict in Ukraine. Putin is preparing for a long war and that will keep markets in flux”.

Rasmussen, who was Secretary-General of Nato, also said that the West should take the Russian attack on Ukraine as the driving force for a transition to a green economy.

“We have to reduce our dependence not only on Russian oil and gas, but also on energy supply from autocratic regimes all over the world”, he said. “I see investments in green and sustainable energy a a more decentralised energy source that we can control ourselves in democratic countries.”

Instead of considering the disruption of energy supply as a challenge, we should take it as a great opportunity to speed up the transition to a green economy.  

“We are approaching a new world order with two camps”, Rasmussen said. “A democratic camp led by the United States and an autocratic camp led by China. We will see globalisation change its character and this is the challenge of the coming years”.

Please click on the video above to watch the full interview.