‘Something to worry about’ but real estate’s response positive

One of the takeaways of the Urban Land Institute’s recent European conference was that “there’s something to worry about,” said the ULI’s CEO Europe Lisette van Doorn.

“It is a very uncertain environment,” she said, referring to the way that issues created by the covid health crisis such as supply chain problems and inflation have been aggravated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

There are few signs of short-term upside potential, she added and other pre-existing problems such as the lack of affordable housing, the energy transition and now the energy crisis are all affecting people with less money.

However, van Doorn  said that she does see positive indicators.

In the year since Sir David King, speaking to the ULI Europe virtual conference, called the real estate industry to action on climate change, van Doorn said the sector has made a huge step forward.

“There is collective understanding that we need to act and collaborate, which I think is really positive,” she said. Another example is the way that real estate is taking more responsibility for affordable housing issues.

“We’ve seen the industry face challenges before and most recently the pandemic,” she said. “The pandemic was just one huge shock and if we see how agile and the necessary flexibility we’ve managed through that crisis I’m confident we will all also manage these issues.”

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