Real Asset Insight #6 June 2020

Tenants willing
to pay for ‘reliable
digital offices’
With polls highlighting the importance
of digital connectivity for work,
William Newton, president & MD at
WiredScore sees a change in the attitudes
of tenants and landlords. ‘Tenants want
offices that help their staff to be more
productive, and we’ve seen that they are
willing to pay for it,’ he said.
Recent research suggests that ‘Wired
Certified buildings in London command
4.7% more in rent than buildings that do
not have the connectivity accreditation’
and Newton sees that, in future, having a
‘reliable and resilient digital infrastructure
will be key to enabling business to remain
operational and help the economy bounce
back from the hit that it has received’.
l Proptech, page 58
There are positive signs the German
market is revving up again after the
slowdown imposed by the coronavirus
pandemic.
‘We see light at the end of the tunnel,’
Thomas Veith, head of real assets Germany
at PwC, told Real Asset Insight. ‘The
transaction markets will be slower over the
next few months, but core and core-plus
deals are being done.’
The health crisis is also leading to a
rethinking of strategies and a transformation
of the industry.
‘There is a lot of uncertainty around over
what will be the future of offices, of living
and of retail and many discussions and
interaction with our clients, who are looking
for stable cash flows,’ said Veith.
Veith used to be head of real estate at
PwC but he has now been promoted to
head of real assets. The promotion is also
an indication of the growing integration
and correlation between infrastructure and
real estate.
‘We are combining the existing large
Spain could become Europe’s Florida
There will be opportunities across the
board in Spain’s healthcare sector postcrisis:
in creating retirement villages
with medical facilities and in providing
healthcare to the elderly in their homes.
‘Spain could become the Florida of
Europe, a place for people to retire
‘Light at the end of the
tunnel’ in German market
real estate team in Germany with the
interdisciplinary team where we have
our transaction and consulting business,
including tax and legal advice,’ he said. ‘It
makes a lot of sense to bring these forces
together from an efficiency point of view but
also to broaden investment opportunities.
For example, if you buy a data centre
portfolio, it can be seen as infrastructure or
real estate.’
The other two big themes coming to the
fore are ESG and digitalisation. ‘We are
not just talking about it, we are already
to senior villages with a good climate
and quality of life,’ said Cristina García-
Peri, head of corporate development
and Strategy at Azora. ‘But standards
must be high, so it’s an opportunity for
institutional money with the right capital
to upgrade or to build these facilities in
the right way.’
helping clients to develop a comprehensive
sustainable strategy as well as helping them
to bring it into their processes and their
operations,’ said Veith.
PwC also encourages a proptech-focused
approach, he said: ‘We’ve talked about
digitalisation for years but in real estate and
infrastructure nothing much has happened
because the market was going well. Now
it’s really important to do something. It is
time to act.’
l More on Germany, page 38
‘The transaction markets will be slower
over the next few months, but core and
core-plus deals are being done.’
Thomas Veith, PwC
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8 Real Asset Insight | Issue 2 July 2020