Netherlands Economic Upswing, Quality of Life and Creative Work Environments Are Putting the Netherlands Back on the Map for Real Estate Investors CONTENTS EDITORIAL
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No. 2 | 2018 places spaces The Real Estate Magazine of Union Investment Value-add Attractive opportunity Retail parks Profitable retail segment Coworking Flexible operator concepts The return of the Netherlands Economic upswing, quality of life and creative work environments are putting the Netherlands back on the map for real estate investors CONTENTS EDITORIAL No. 2 | 2018 places spaces Welcome to places & spaces! The Real Estate Magazine of Union Investment Value add With its forward-looking real estate magazine, Attractive opportunity Retail parks Profitable retail segment Coworking Union Investment presents premium articles and Flexible operator concepts information on the national and international in- Strategic approach vestment and letting markets. The cover page shows the old harbour (Oude to climate change Haven) of Rotterdam – a mix of historic build- 4 ings and modern architecture. The return of the Netherlands here’s still so much to be done to reach climate change mented since 2009, currently on an annual basis. The energy Economic upswing, quality of life and creative work environments are putting the Netherlands back on the map for real estate IN THIS ISSUE: goals. A quick Google search for "climate change" monitoring will give us detailed information in shorter intervals shows: The current headlines in Germany are not very (and automated with system support), so we can identify and 12 Tflattering for a country which, along with 179 other nations, has implement optimisations at short notice. COVER STORY ratified the 2015 Paris Agreement. The international accord aims The Netherlands Back on the investment stage 4 to limit the increase in the global average temperature to well Cradle-to-Cradle Park 20|20 sets sustainable standards 11 below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The Ger- man government has outlined out how that can be achieved in its Climate Action Plan 2050. It aims to reduce greenhouse gas MARKETS emissions by 80 to 95 percent compared with 1990 levels by Retail parks Retail segment wins over investor 12 the year 2050. That will also involve implementation and emis- sions savings within the real estate sector: if this goal is met, Union Investment Interview with Henrike Waldburg 15 nearly all the country’s buildings will be heated, cooled and sup- Nordics A safe haven in the north 16 plied with power through climate-neutral means. At the same Micro-living Anything but temporary 25 time, the plan aims to cut the final energy consumption of prop- erties by 50 percent by 2050. But the first milestone on this path Infografik Different maturity levels 26 already seems to be at risk. According to the current climate Investment Climate Study Style drift fails to materialise 38 action report from the German government, greenhouse gas emissions had only declined by 28 percent by the end of 2017. And it is questionable whether the gap can be closed so as to PORTFOLIO 28 achieve the target of 40 percent by 2020 – another reason for Jan von Mallinckrodt is the Head of Sustainability at Union Financing Tapping alternative sources of capital 20 the real estate industry not to sit back. Not only does it need to Investment Real Estate GmbH. He is also Chairman of the Value-add Greater yields with manageable risk 22 stay on course, it needs to pick up the pace. But what does that Real Estate Committee on the German Sustainable Build- mean in practice? And who needs to be on board? ing Council (DGNB). More than ten years ago, Union Investment integrated sus- CONCEPTS tainability standards into its business strategy as one of the pi- But achieving climate change goals takes much more. It takes Coworking Customer service and flexibility are in 28 oneers in the real estate sector – with our own Sustainable In- partners and a clear implementation strategy. Our strategy is vestment Check and green lease agreements, which we called “Manage to green” and it focuses on identifying sustai- Elevators New technologies for the vertical city 40 developed with the German Property Federation (ZIA) and mar- nability potential in buildings and harnessing it using property- ket participants. The learning process that we went through back related asset management strategies. We believe that investors REAL PEOPLE then enables us to take concrete steps now toward a sustaina- and tenants will respond positively: institutional clients, because 16 ble future. it significantly increases the transparency they need in the area Matthew Scholl Union Investment's America strategy 34 For example, we decided to formulate our own carbon di- of sustainable investment and helps quantify its impact – while oxide emissions savings target to achieve by 2030. The important optimising risk management. Tenants, because sustainable buil- WIDE ANGLE preliminary work has been completed: together with the German dings offer cost advantages and increased comfort – not least Industry Initiative for Energy Efficiency (DENEFF), we have deve- thanks to new ideas from tech startups. That gives us hope, de- Corporate Architecture Stone calling cards 46 loped an initial indication that shows us where we are with in- spite headlines to the contrary. Because we are convinced that dividual properties and our portfolio – and when exactly we need climate action is achievable in the real estate sector – and it’s New 39 to take measures to comply with the Climate Action Plan. Intro- worth it. ducing energy monitoring will be crucial: it will eventually pro- New in the Union Investment portfolio 47 vide us with all the necessary data on energy consumption in Online & Services, contact and publishing information 47 Tack/Alamy mauritius images/Jochen Cover picture: Union Investment/Adele Marschner Stefan Falke, Sortland, Getty Images/Morten Falch Kallen, WeWork/Lauren Andrea, PartGmbB/Mario Wuppertal Architekten BDA RATHKE Shutterstock/Benedikt Juerges, Photos: our entire property portfolio. Consumption data has been docu- 34 2 places & spaces 2/2018 places & spaces 2/2018 3 COVER STORY Rotterdam, gateway to the world: The Netherlands’ second-largest city after Amsterdam, Rotterdam has Europe’s largest port – the sixth-largest in the world – and is setting standards for modern urban development. Pictured: the Erasmus Bridge and the Wilhelminapier. Back on the invest ment stage Considered “the sick man of Europe” only a few years ago, the Netherlands is increasingly seen as a shooting star in the eyes of investors – all the more so as its fundamentals compare favourably with other core European countries. By Isobel Lee Photo: Shutterstock/Ioana Catalina E Photo: 4 places & spaces 2/2018 places & spaces 2/2018 5 ▶ COVER STORY The Hague – seat of the Dutch government and parliament – is home to many small and medium-sized commercial and industrial enterprises. he Netherlands was one of the stars of estate for New York investment manager Angelo, Gor- the European investment markets in don & Co. “Even 10 years after the crisis there are still 2017, recording record transaction volu- significant, distressed portfolios being sold.” Tmes of around €19.5 billion, according to data from But from 2012, opportunistic investors returned to advisory firm Savills. As the economy continues to per- the market, Bertens added, “starting with offices in Ams- form strongly and occupier markets respond positively, the terdam and other major markets in the Randstad. But by the signs are all there that 2018 will be another stellar year. Now ran- end of 2012, it was becoming clear that the Netherlands didn’t have king as the fifth most powerful economy in the Eurozone, with a per the same weaknesses as some of Southern Europe’s markets, but capita GDP above €41,000 and one of the lowest unemployment possessed much stronger fundamentals and was suffering a tem- rates around, the contrast is stark with just a few years ago. porary downturn.” Indeed, as the rest of Europe started to climb out of a trough in At that point, prices in the Netherlands and in Amsterdam in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) at the beginning of the particular started looking good value, compared to their more ex- decade, the Netherlands was stuck on negative growth, and was pensive neighbours such as Germany, the UK and even France, Ber- even dubbed “the sick man of Europe”. What had gone wrong? tens said, and more and more investors became interested in the According to Sven Bertens, head of research & strategy in the country. Netherlands for JLL, a number of factors were involved. “After the But some investors were already convinced of the country’s po- GFC, there was a period when the Dutch government was applying tential. For example, Union Investment acquired a considerable port- austerity measures, drawing up new legislation about mortgages folio of first-class office buildings during the crisis years, showing its and pensions. But this was about making the country future proof,” skill at making successful counter-cyclical investments at just the he said. “Once the economy started gaining traction, the Nether- right time. Another example is the company’s acquisition of the First lands as a whole and especially Amsterdam as the main market star- Rotterdam project development in Rotterdam from a joint venture ted to recover quite quickly. If you now look at GDP growth and of Rabo Vastgoed Groep and Maarsen Groep for its UniInstitutional rental growth, the indicators are all positive, and in fact they are Real Estate open-ended real estate fund in 2016. First Union lost no Amsterdam’s Westerdoksdijk has become a popular outperforming most of their western neighbours.” time in obtaining forward funding to secure the 30-storey office to- residential area in recent years. “The market before was characterised by a lot of leverage, in wer. other words high rates of outside financing, and not a lot of real growth,” said Anuj Mittal, co-portfolio manager of European real ”Extraordinarily limited development pipeline” Yield compression is now the headline story.