realty - magazine review

Review12 Belgium Needs To Plan Urbanization of the Brussels Periphery17 European listed real estate could double in five years18 Think Of A City As Though It Were A Hotel

Highlights of the REALTY 2011 seminar program

2011

Attendance at REALTY Soars By Over 40%

Let’s talk real estate

2 - THE REALTY REVIEW 2011

3

6 16 18

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE REALTY 2011 SEMINARS Think Of A City As Though It Were A Hotel ...................................................... 6

Belgium Needs To Plan Urbanization of the Brussels Periphery ............... 8

European listed real estate could double in five years -EPRA ............... 11

Impressions .................................................................................................... 12

Market Transparency is a Good Thing... in a Group ................................... 14

Getronics wins IFMA Belgium Facility Awards 2011 At REALTY .............. 16

“Credit Crisis Far From Over,”RICS REALTY Lunch Hears .......................... 18

RICS’ Growth Mirrors Property Professionalism In Belgium .................... 20

In this magazine:

THE REALTY REVIEW 2011 - 3

The number of visitors to the REALTY real estate trade fair in Brussels

between May 24th – 26th this year soared by over 40%, to just under

5,000, compared with around 3,400 in 2010. The number of exhibitors

at the Tour and Taxis former Royal Trading Depot venue, also leapt to

112 from 95 a year ago.

“This is only the third year we’ve run the event and the rate of growth at

each successive show has been astonishing. The exhibitors really stepped

up to the plate this year through their efforts in inviting their clients and

potential clients to REALTY. I think this success demonstrates that there

was a clear gap in the market for an event which really showcases the

Belgian real estate investment market and for an accompanying high

quality seminar program at the heart of the European Union,” said Gregory

Olszewski, Exhibition Manager for REALTY.

Olszewski added that REALTY’s strategy of focusing on the requirements of pivotal market groups

such as real estate investors, and the participation of new sectors including retailers and facility

managers, had really paid off in broadening the attraction of the trade fair in the market.

The increasing quality and internationalization of the seminar program also drew in key speakers,

notably top French economist and former advisor to President François Mitterrand, Jacques Attali,

as well as a string of high profile real estate industry associations. These ranged from the Belgian

Real Estate Trade Federation (UPSI-BVS) , the Investment Property Databank (IPD), the European

Public Real Estate Association (EPRA), the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the Royal Institution of

Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) , the Belgian

Council of Shopping Centres (BLRW-CBLCC) and many more. Many of the commercial companies

attending REALTY held their own market seminars in conjunction with their exhibit stands and

there was a notable increase in the number of social networking events at the fair such as lunches,

dinners, and cocktail parties.

“I received a lot of positive feedback from investors, who really appreciated the intimacy of REALTY

in comparison with other large real estate trade fairs as they could accomplish in one or two days

what would otherwise have required perhaps dozens of meetings around Brussels. The enthusiasm

of exhibitors is also obvious as I’ve already had many people trying to reserve the prime spots for

their stands next year,” Gregory Olszewski concluded. n

Attendance at REALTY Real Estate Trade Fair Brussels Soars By Over 40%

By Steve Hays, Bellier Financial Communication, Amsterdam

p Gregory Olszewski, Exhibition Manager, REALTY 2011

THE SUCCESS OF REALTY DEMONSTRATES

THE CLEAR GAP IN THE MARKET FOR AN EVENT

WHICH REALLY SHOWCASES THE BELGIAN

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT MARKET AND FOR AN

ACCOMPANYING HIGH QUALITY SEMINAR PROGRAM

AT THE HEART OF THE EUROPEAN UNION.


HIGHLIGHTS OF

THE REALTY 2011 SEMINAR PROGRAM


THINK OF A CITY AS THOUGH IT WERE A HOTEL

Every seat was occupied and many other people crowded around the edge of the largest REALTY seminar space, to hear a presentation by keynote speaker Jacques Attali, the leading French economist and writer, and former advisor to President Francois Mitterand. Attali offered an upbeat vision of the outlook for Europe and its cities in his speech entitled: “A Short History of the Future,” which was organised by architectural agency Art & Build.

“Our continent is not condemned

to decline and become a giant

museum, you have to think of its

past to see its future. The city is

the only living creature that can

rejuvenate without losing its soul

and attract the political, financial

and cultural elites, from which it

draws its power,” Attali told the

audience.

He said cities needed to consider

themselves as hotels, they have

to warmly receive those who want

to come in, but also go out into the

world and look for clients. That is

why port cities have a particular

economic power and attraction,

because they have no difficulty in

considering themselves as hotels.

“Of course the best hotels in the

world are in Europe and that’s

why I think the U.S. is ruined in

comparison and why China will

never become the dominant

superpower,” he joked.

What is clear is that the 21st

Century is the “Century of the City”

with the global population due to

surpass 7.0 billion by October this

year. By 2050 9.0 billion people

will be walking the earth and 6.0

billion of those will be living in

cities – 500 of which will have

more than one million inhabitants.

Europe can continue to be the

beneficiary of the global wealth

created in the future with a bit of

willpower and a strong focus on

the development of cities that are

both economically and socially

sustainable.

But which European cities will

be the winners of the future?

“As a Frenchman I would love to

say Paris, but I have my doubts

as it is not a port. I think the

future will see a strong economic

integration between successful

port cities around the world,” Attali

concluded. n

t

Jacques Attali during his speech

“A brief history of the future:

the European City”.

I THINK THE FUTURE WILL SEE

A STRONG ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

BETWEEN SUCCESSFUL PORT CITIES

AROUND THE WORLD.


BRUSSELS PERIPHERYBELGIUM NEEDS TO PLAN URBANIZATION OF THE

Belgium needs to accept the de facto reality of the urbanization of the Brussels “Rand,” or the periphery suburbs around the capital, and plan for its development as a dynamic expanded city region with integrated transport routes and public spaces, a leading “Territorial Architect” argued in a presentation at REALTY for the UPSI-BVS.

“A large segment of Western

Europe’s economy and of people’s

lives are already not taking place

in compact historic cities, but

rather in regional environments,

with spread-out developments,

based on automobile access…

A perfect, if very loaded case

study, lies around Brussels,

where urbanization politics

have become interwoven with

language politics,” said Alexander

D’Hooghe, associate professor

in Architectural Urbanism at

the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology.

He said that in Brussels and

Belgium there has been an

historical identification of

Dutch as a language defining

a cultural area that is rural

and green (surburban); and

of French with the city. This

connection desperately needs

to be uncoupled in order to build

a sustainable future for the

Brussels Rand.

A SECOND METROPOLIS

Urbanization of the surburban

periphery is a fact that has

already happened in the

sense that much of this is a

p Alexander d’Hooghe, associate

professor in Architectural Urbanism

at MIT.


THE HISTORICAL IDENTIFICATION

BETWEEN DUTCH DEFINING

A CULTURAL AREA THAT IS RURAL

AND GREEN (SURBURBAN);

AND OF FRENCH WITH THE CITY,

DESPERATELY NEEDS TO BE

UNCOUPLED IN ORDER TO BUILD

A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE FOR THE

BRUSSELS PERIPHERY.

rear-guard battle of coming

to terms with a new reality.

The acknowledgement of a

second metropolis – a Randstad

(Regional City) – entangled in

an embrace with Brussels that is

no longer suffocating, but to the

contrary, a source of possibility

and opportunity. That is the real

challenge and the way out of the

current Belgian political gridlock.

China’s most successful,

cosmopolitan city was for a long

time Hong Kong. That is until

the mainland Chinese decided

to build a twin city right next

to it: Shenzhen, which today is

bigger, newer, as fast, etcetera. It

took them only 20 years to build

a city with a population of 12

million and now both gain from

each other’s presence, fostering

each other’s growth. This mutual

embrace is not asphyxiating,

but empowering, and is a model

for the future of the Rand and of

Brussels.

RETHINKING PUBLIC SPACES

“Most importantly, infrastruc-

tural developments may have to

be considered anew. If we look

at the Rand as if it were a city,

something obvious is missing.

These are the boulevards, the

plazas, -- the public spaces which

t Eric Verbeeck, President of the Belgian Real Estate Federation

(UPSI-BVS).

q Alexander D’hooghe (guest speaker), panel members Louis Tobback,

Willy Demeyer and Bernard Clerfayt (mayors of Leuven, Liège and

Schaarbeek in Belgium) and moderator Jean Blavier.

make up the collective of the

city, so it can recognise itself

and construct its own identity

through their mirror. This would

have to be a first priority – the

construction of a civic apparatus

for spaces for the suburbs around

Brussels,” D’Hooghe concluded. n


DOUBLE IN FIVE YEARSEUROPEAN LISTED REAL ESTATE COULD

The European listed real estate sector has the potential to double in size over the next five years, as banks look to offload distressed property assets held on their books and private investors turn to attractive REIT structures to realise the value of their investments, the Head of Research at the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) told a seminar at REALTY.

He said Europe’s three largest

economies: Germany, France

and the UK, have the greatest

potential to increase the size of

their domestic listed real estate

sectors by between €10 to

€50 billion each, but there also

interesting situations emerging

in Italy, Turkey, Spain and Ireland.

In Germany, the liquidity crisis

in the €88 billion open-ended

property fund sector which has

locked-up investors’ capital in

the vehicles, is likely to increase

pressure for the expansion of a

more liquid and transparent listed

real estate sector, particularly by

institutional investors. Of the ten

largest global property markets

(with the exception of Italy at

0.6%), Germany has the lowest

proportion of its underlying real

estate held within the listed

sector at only 1.5%.

In France, Europe’s largest

quoted property sector by

market cap, expansion could

be driven by more private

companies floating their

portfolio via the tax efficient SIIC

(REIT) structure. But Hughes

noted that the French industry

needed to do more to boost

liquidity to attract investors,

as the limited free float in real

estate shares meant that of the

80 quoted property companies

in France, only 10 are included in

the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT European

real estate shares index.

In the UK, Europe’s deepest

and most liquid listed property

market, banks are slowly

beginning to shift property

assets held against distressed

loans from their books, and

the country’s REIT investment

vehicle offers an efficient means

of exiting these situations.

In Spain and Ireland, which have

both experienced deep shocks to

their financial systems through

highly leveraged speculative

property investments, the

utilisation of listed vehicles

to help the market clearing

mechanism shift distressed

real estate stock into the more

robust and transparent listed

real estate sector is probably

still some way off, but is likely to

come into play in the future.

Italy’s government is sitting on

extensive property holdings,

which could be used to help

reduce its large fiscal deficit,

but EPRA believes that shortfalls

in the Italian REIT structure are

limiting the efficient use of the

equities market.

On Europe’s periphery, Turkey is

perhaps a surprising candidate

for lifting the continent’s

listed real estate market

capitalisation, but it has a robust

REIT regime, which includes

residential property – in contrast

to Germany, for example, and

a dynamic strongly growing

economy with a young active

population.

Fraser Hughes concluded: “The

value of Europe’s investable

property stock is the largest

in the world at around $9.0

trillion, but only a tiny fraction

of that is held by listed real

estate companies. We are on

the cusp of a period of unique

opportunities over the next

few years to substantially

increase the European quoted

property sector to the benefit

of investors, governments, and

private companies alike.” n

A NUMBER OF OPPORTUNITIES ARE CONVERGING

THAT HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO DOUBLE THE CURRENT

€300 BILLION MARKET CAPITALISATION OF THE EUROPEAN

LISTED REAL ESTATE SECTOR OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS

UNDER A BEST-CASE SCENARIO.

p Fraser Hughes – Director at

EPRA (European Public Real Estate

Association)


IMPRESSIONS REALTY 2011


MARKET TRANSPARENCY IS A GOOD THING... IN A GROUP

Wednesday’s session on market transparency and information quality organised by the Investment Property Databank (IPD) saw Serge Fautré, chief executive of Belgium’s largest listed property company Cofinimmo take the stage alongside speakers from IPD, broker DTZ and German real estate firm IVG Immobilien.

“We have a legal duty to be

transparent, but increasingly we

find it difficult and commercially

stupid,” Fautré, provocatively

told the audience.

He noted that a research study

in the UK commercial property

investment market has

shown that there is a +/- 20%

variation between valuation

and actual transaction prices,

demonstrating that the real

estate market is not particularly

transparent at a deal level and

therein lies its attraction for the

skilled investor.

Cofinimmo previously published

the value of its assets in its

annual report, but stopped

doing so in 2004, because

the company found this was

increasingly adversely affecting

its business.

“It was difficult for a buyer

to convince his investment

committee that he’d got a good

deal with us, if the price they

were being asked to accept

for an asset was higher than

the value openly quoted by

Cofinimmo,” Fautré said.

He stressed, however, that it was

important for the broader market

to have reliable reference data,

such as the indices produced by

IPD, through which companies

and funds can benchmark

themselves. But the data needed

to be pooled confidentially, so

that information on individual

contributors’ assets can’t be

identified. Independent research

on the market is more valuable

than public information, Fautré

concluded.

“I resent the fact that people

say real estate should be liquid

– who cares about one-year

returns. If real estate was liquid,

would we have seen the good

returns we have, which are

better than equities? We are in

this market for the long-term,”

he said.

THE INVESTOR’S PERSPECTIVE

At first glance Belgium appears

to have a highly transparent

property market, but the often

wide differences in brokers’

reporting of fundamental data is

a problem, said Dr. Oliver Voss,

Head of Research at Germany’s

IVG.

IVG has about €1.0 billion

invested in the country, mainly

in offices, from the company’s

total assets under management

of approximately €22 billion.

He identified the lack of

consistency among brokers

on estimates of rental levels

as a particular difficulty and

suggested they developed a

consensus around common

definitions for rent indicators in

the main sub-markets.

Voss said there was also a

specific problem in developing

quantitative forecasting models

for the Brussels office market,

due largely to the strong

discretionary influence of public

institutions on the market. A

solution for this could be to

deliver a consensus forecast

among major regional market

players for the expected trends

in the market, he added.

BELGIUM COULD IMPROVE

ITS GAME IN MARKET DATA

GATHERING - DTZ

Belgium lags other European

real estate markets in terms of

the quality of its data gathering

and should perhaps move

towards the more efficient and

transparent French system,

Vincent Leroux, Head of Belgium

Research & Global Geomatics at

DTZ said.

Belgian market data is mostly

gathered by brokers and there is

little formal collaboration, such

as the brokers communication

forum in central and east

European markets where

numbers are uniformly agreed. In

France, by contrast, the Immostat

organisation represents an

independent structure with four

major brokers as shareholders

(CBRE, JLL, BNP Paribas and

DTZ). Immostat was founded

in 2002 with data processing

handed over to IPD in 2009.

The market data contributed

REFERENCE DATA NEEDS TO BE

POOLED CONFIDENTIALLY,

SO THAT INFORMATION ON INDIVIDUAL

CONTRIBUTORS’ ASSETS CAN’T BE

IDENTIFIED.


IS A GOOD THING... IN A GROUP

by the brokers is pooled and

discussed by the participants

with their aggregate conclusions

communicated to the press by

Immostat-IPD, but excluding

confidential detailed individual

information. The brokers are

obligated to use the agreed market

numbers in their daily dealings.

Leroux said that although an

Immostate-type system had

been tried in Belgium in the past

and had not succeeded, it might

now be time for the market to give

it another go.

BELGIAN 2010 INVESTMENT

RETURNS AT LOWER END OF

PROPERTY PACK – IPD

Belgium ‘s total real estate

investment returns were

towards the lower end of

the 21 countries that have

so far reported their results

for 2010, IPD’s Managing

Director for Southern Europe,

Stéphanie Galiègue showed in a

presentation to the seminar.

The Belgian market was in

the bottom third among the

countries surveyed with total

returns of 4.6%, equal with the

Netherlands, but way behind the

top ranking UK market at 15.9%

last year.

The retail sector was the

biggest contributor to Belgian’s

investment returns at 10.4%

last year, compared with the

lagging office and industrial

sectors at 3.0% and 3.7%

respectively. n

DEVELOPING QUANTITATIVE

FORECASTING MODELS FOR THE

BRUSSELS OFFICE MARKET IS DIFFICULT,

DUE TO THE STRONG DISCRETIONARY

INFLUENCE OF PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

ON THE MARKET.

uSerge Fautré - CEO of Cofinimmo


Gert Potoms, chairman of the

awards jury said: “Getronics

relocation project stood out

in the competition because

of the visionary way in which

it captured the ‘New World of

Work’ concept. The company

successfully engaged with both

management and employees in

demonstrating the importance of

facility management and gained

their involvement to make the

whole project a success.”

A jury of experts, IFMA and media

partners, evaluated the projects

of the six award candidates who

made it through the pre-selection

round. The jury particularly

praised the Getronics project

because of the way it showcases

the facility management industry

to clients and stimulates interest

in its contribution to the work

environment.

THE ‘NEW WORLD OF WORK’

AS A MISSION

NWOW (New World of Work)

became the working title for

the Getronics’ project, as the

concept is firmly rooted in the

client company’s own culture

and supports people “working

when and where they want.”

Raising the attractiveness of the

employer and the company’s

offices also plays a key role in

the development of the NWOW,

as it permits employees to adapt

their work space as they wish

and allows them to move around

internally during the day.

The occupancy rate of the

project was taken into account to

determine the office space that

would be required and this was

found to average somewhere

between 50% and 80% depending

on the department concerned.

The new location does not have

offices specifically designated for

managerial staff, as these are the

people who are most frequently

away from the office.

The office then becomes no

longer just work space, but

rather an attractive meeting

place where employees feel

more connected to the company.

Due to the sophistication of the

GETRONICS WINSIFMA BELGIUM FACILITY AWARDS 2011

ICT company Getronics took first place for the ‘Facility Management Project of the Year’ at IFMA’s Belgium Facility Awards 2011. During a reception at REALTY on the Tuesday evening the company received the award for its global data centre building within the Pegasus Park development near Brussels airport. The project was judged to have best captured the new flexible way of working in modern office space and also cut costs by nearly 25%.


information and communications

technology (ICT) support, people

are able to work flexibly at

different locations, whether

this is at another Getronics or

client building, or at home. Every

employee receives a personal

badge in order to pass through

access and security systems.

The Getronics project was

completed within a period of six

months, of which two were used

for the actual realisation of the

job. About ten days before the

relocation date a pilot phase was

launched, when a team of 40

employees tested every aspect

of the new location. This pilot

team was able to analyse the

use of new technologies, simplify

processes, question outsourcing

contracts and benchmark the

new environment before the

arrival of the remaining staff.

Gert Potoms concluded:“Although

we still continue to see many

relocation projects put forward

for the Facility Awards, there

is also a growing attention to

other disciplines within facility

management, which ultimately

made the difference between the

candidates. We’re also seeing

facility management become

more important within smaller

projects and companies and this

will certainly demonstrate the

industry’s added value to a wider

client base in the future.” n

Other Prize Winners

p

Yves Van Hooland (IFMA president) and presenters

Kathleen Cools and Frédéric Deborsu, together with all

the prize winners of the Facility Awards 2011.

u

Vincent van Quickenborne Minister of Economy

and Administrative Simplification, who came to hand

over the Facility Award, and Gert Potoms, Chairman

of the Awards Jury.

WE’RE ALSO SEEING FACILITY

MANAGEMENT BECOME

MORE IMPORTANT WITHIN SMALLER PROJECTS

AND COMPANIES AND THIS WILL CERTAINLY DEMONSTRATE

THE INDUSTRY’S ADDED VALUE TO

A WIDER CLIENT BASE IN THE FUTURE.

UZA AND SOLVAY

were also prize winners, alongside Getronics, in IFMA’s Belgium Facility Awards 2011.

THE FACILITY SERVICES OF UZAwere second with a project encompassing the insourcing of cleaning.

THE FACILITY & TECHNICAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT OF SOLVAY

was third for the installation of an advanced facility management information system (FMIS) to manage its activities.


THE CREDIT CRISIS TAKING ON A

NEW SHAPE

“I don’t want to spoil your lunch,

but I’m deeply worried about

what is happening in the global

economy and the world of finance

as we approach the fourth

anniversary of the Credit Crisis…I

think the crisis is now taking a

new shape, and one that could

threaten the very existence of

the euro,” Freddy Van den Spiegel

said.

The resumption of global

economic growth is masking

serious underlying structural

problems that have not been

resolved, he added: “ The banking

and financial system has not yet

been stabilised and is giving the

illusion of rude health because

it has been flooded with very

“CREDIT CRISIS FAR FROM OVER”

RICS REALTY Lunch Hears

The Credit Crisis is far from over and is entering a worrying new phase as the debt problems of the eurozone deepen and global imbalances grow, but together they may be only the marginal signs of a more profound transition in the political and economic world order, the former Chief Economist for BNP Paribas Fortis told a packed lunch hosted by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) at REALTY.

Van den Spiegel added that the

European banks’ appetite for risk

and leverage would be severely

constrained by the estimated

€1,000 billion in new capital

they need to raise based on their

activities today. When their long-

term liabilities are taken into

account, that target soars to

€6,000 billion.

SOVEREIGN DEBT CRISIS

Another challenge for the euro

zone is the sovereign debt crisis,

that has divided it into two

parts. These are performing very

differently from each other and

so require separate interest rate

policies, which are not possible

within a single currency bloc.

“What this crisis did to Europe

AFTER THIS CRISIS NOTHING

WILL BE LEFT OF ALL THOSE

DREAMS OF INTEGRATED MARKETS AND

CONVERGING ECONOMIES.p Freddy Van den Spiegel , former Chief Economist for BNP Paribas Fortis

cheap capital, while the European

and U.S. central banks keep real

interest rates extremely low.

“All the Greek, Portuguese and

Irish banks can only survive

because Mr. Trichet (President of

the ECB) is handing over buckets

of cheap money and accepting

poor quality assets, such as

Greek debt, in return. In America

the situation is even worse.

At the same time the Basel III

reforms of the banking industry

are going to increase pressure on

the banks to raise huge amounts

of capital. They do not know how

they are going to achieve this,

without cutting back severely on

the loans that they make. So the

risk of a credit crunch for the next

seven to eight years is still with

us.”


RICS’ Growth Mirrors Property Professionalism In BelgiumThe phenomenal growth in the membership of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in Belgium and Luxembourg in recent years, reflects the strong demand for higher professional standards in the real estate investment business, both from international and domestic investors, Ed Nypels, Country Manager for RICS Belux told the REALTY Review in an interview.

THE RICS QUALIFICATION

“Real estate investment is now

more and more international in

scope and investors want to do

business with service providers

they can trust and that are reliable.

The RICS qualification is recognised

worldwide as providing that

endorsement of professionalism,

so it doesn’t matter if you use a

RICS surveyor in Belgium, the UK,

France or the Netherlands, you’ll

still get the same standard of

service.

is unbelievable. We now have

an average Europe, which is not

doing too badly in terms of growth

and inflation, but the problem is

that the average Europe doesn’t

exist. In reality you have the

Europe of the north – Germany

and its satellite countries, which

is doing well thanks to exports to

China. Then we have the Europe

of the south and west – Greece,

Spain, Portugal and Ireland –

which is a disaster. After this crisis

nothing will be left of all those

dreams of integrated markets and

converging economies.”

GLOBAL IMBALANCES WORSENED

At a worldwide level, the global

imbalances that economists

identified more than ten years ago

have only been exacerbated by the

crisis Van den Spiegel argued.

“China, Japan, Germany, if they

all want to be big net exporters

then someone has to be a big net

importer and the U.S. said send

it all to us. The rest of the world

asked how are you going to pay?

The answer from the Americans

was: we’ll print dollars and as long

as you accept these as payment

and accumulate them, you have

the illusion of saving and investing.

We are happy because we can

enjoy a life based on credit.”

He noted that China had

accumulated 3,000 billion in

dollar reserves and has no choice

but to continue to support the

U.S. deficit, because otherwise

the value of the greenback would

crash, wiping out the value of its

holdings and U.S. foreign debt,

with untold consequences for

the global financial and economic

system. “We are at the edges

of a huge transition in the world

economy and its politics. These

major turning points, such as the

French Revolution, appear to take

around 30 years and then you

have a new global order for a 100

years. This is the challenge the

Western World is now facing as

it accounts for 80% of the world’s

resources – its wealth, energy use

and standards of living. The rest of

the world’s population and notably

China is saying this is not what we

want for the future – we want new

balances. The financial crisis is just

the marginal manifestation of the

big transition,” Van den Spiegel

concluded. n


As the qualification has crossed

borders it’s also boosted demand

for more professionalism internally

here in the Belgian market,” Nypels

said. He added that RICS’ Belux

membership has expanded by

around 100% a year for the past

three years, and now stands at

about 158 from just 18 members

in 2008.

THE BELGIAN MARKET

Nypels said that the Belgian

market had previously been a

rather closed inward- looking

affair, dominated by local players

with limited transparency, so

there wasn’t much need for

RICS’ services. This has now

changed dramatically driven by

the development of real estate

investment in Brussels, which as

the administrative centre of the

EU has also become an important

market for investors and

developers. The same processes

have also fuelled the success of

REALTY since its inception three

years ago, he noted.

“I think eventually we’ll reach

a similar situation to the UK in

Belgium, where you can’t even sit

down at the table as a surveyor

to do a business deal unless

you have a RICS qualification. Of

course that’s still a long way off,

but it will come. At the moment it’s

fairly senior people in companies

in Belgium that are members, but

we’ll increasingly penetrate down

through the lower levels of these

firms and across into service

providers such as lawyers,

who’ll realise they need an RICS

qualification if they want to be

seen as professionals in the real

estate market.”

Nypels estimated that there

are perhaps 800 individuals

in Belgium, who through

educational standards and

business experience could

qualify as RICS members, and he

expected that membership target

to be reached within five to six

years.

RICS’ MISSION

“We have the obligation to help our

members expand their knowledge

of the industry worldwide and so

we have extensive educational

and research programmes in

place. Many people also don’t

realise that we actively market

their qualification to promote their

professionalism, as you can’t just

walk-in to become a RICS member,

you have to be comprehensively

assessed by your peers before you

can qualify.”

Nypels said that probably the

hottest subject on the RICS agenda

in Belgium was the question

of sustainability standards in

buildings, with everyone in the

industry from developers to

brokers realising that this is an

area where they need to constantly

update their knowledge as it will

increasingly drive the market in the

future. “I think it’s fair to say that

the RICS is providing good value

for money for the membership fee

with all the services we provide,

but it’s important to realise that

we can’t lift professional industry

standards in Belgium without the

engagement of the membership.

The work of our volunteers is

extremely important as they

understand the value of the RICS

qualification and are proud of it,”

Nypels concluded. n

t Ed Nypels, Country Manager for RICS Belux

I THINK EVENTUALLY WE’LL

REACH A SIMILAR SITUATION

TO THE UK IN BELGIUM, WHERE YOU

CAN’T EVEN SIT DOWN AT THE TABLE AS A

SURVEYOR TO DO A BUSINESS DEAL UNLESS

YOU HAVE A RICS QUALIFICATION.


Facts & figuresRealty is Belgium’s only professional real estate trade fair where professionals can meet. Visitors are mainly investors, end users and public authorities; exhibitors are developers, architects, construction companies, brokers, consultants, financers, investors, project managers, engineering companies and government agencies.

Performance report from visitors• 86% visit REALTY for networking purposes.• 82% plan to contact one or more exhibitors after the show.• 99% will visit next edition.• General score: 7,1/10

88% of visitors achieved their objectives for the show.

The R EALTY Value Chain

Visitor’ profileDeveloper

Investor

Architect & planner

Consultancy firm

Construction company

Broker

Local & public authority

Project Management company

Law firm / Notary

Corporate End User

Bank

Engineering company

Media & Press

Trade federation & academics

Deve loper

BrokerConsultant

Investor

Broker

End user

4815 participants (+41%)

Constr uctionCom pany


113 exhibitors ( +11%)

The R EALTY Value Chain

Top 10 list of companies visitors are looking for at REALTY:

Deve loper

Public Authority

Financer

Architect

EngineeringPlanning

Performance report from exhibitors• Quality of visitors: 8,1/10 – quantity: 7,8/10 • Show concept: 8,2/10• Return intention: 92% are sure to book a stand in 2012.

97% of exhibitors achieved their objectives for the show

Netherlands

France

Germany

Luxembourg

Spain

Belgium

United Kingdom

Ireland

Switserland

Tunisia

International InvestorsProgram

• 2011: 61 investors (60% growth compared to 2010). • New for 2012: International media campaign + adapted International Seminar Day

Constr uctionCom pany

Let’s talk real estate24, 25 & 26 May 2011 Tour & Taxis Brussels

Let’s talk real estate

SAVE THE DATE22, 23 & 24 MAY 2012

Info: www.realty-brussels.com Contact: Group Exhibition Manager Gregory Olszewski

Phone: +32 (0)9 241 94 21 - [email protected]

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