Residential provides safety net among post-pandemic assets

European investors are currently looking for ‘safety’ and are turning to more defensive asset classes according to SFO Capital Partners’ non-executive board member Audrey Klein.

Klein, also chair of the firm’s ESG committee, said such assets include logistics, industrial and anything residential.

“Co-living, basic residential, any kind of offshoots from that,” she said. “Everyone needs somewhere to live and development hasn’t caught up with that yet.”

Klein said that after the global financial crisis there was a complete standstill in Europe and trading did not return to normal for three or four years — the US was different and the market resumed more quickly.

The situation is different currently however. “There is a lot of pent-up demand due to the pandemic. People are going to be selective and some people have pressed pause. But I don’t think that lasts for very long and people gravitate towards the asset classes where demand outstrips supply and that they see as safety.”

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