Realcast: Live events in full swing, Polish positives, capital hungry for London again

In the spotlight this week:

Live events are back in full swing as Real Asset Media’s CEE Summit in Warsaw and  briefing on ESG, digitisation, proptech & investment staged in London demonstrated.

The overall sentiment was positive both from international and local speakers although, as Sabina Reeves of CBRE Investment Managers pointed out, capital will look at geopolitics much more closely given the current situation in Europe.

However, there are positives for real estate including 20-30% increases in logistics rents in Poland and suggestions that the country could benefit from Russian and Ukrainian businesses relocating there.

And, as Poland faces interruptions in the gas supply from Russia, the country is looking harder at renewables rather than a return to burning coal.

In the UK, Gatehouse Bank and TPG Real Estate Partners have launched a new single-family focused build –to-rent platform called Start living. And Korean pension service NPS and Hines have emerged as the winning bidders for the redevelopment of the John Lewis flagship store building on Oxford Street in London.

Elsewhere, Investec is getting ready to sell a €1.5bn Pan European logistics platform, one of the few opportunities of any scale in this sector.

And the mood is positive in the London office market where, as Avison Young research revealed, £5 billion of assets changed hands in the first months of the year, exceeding pre-pandemic levels.

Meanwhile, looking to November, retail real estate event Mapic is returning and will be taking a deeper dive into the fundamental changes impacting the retail and leisure sectors.

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