Jan de Kreij, CEO of listed retail investor Corio, sees no need to invest in China to grow his company further. 'There is still plenty to do in Turkey and Italy,' he said, pointing to opportunities for rental growth in these countries. But the days of easy profits in Europe from yield compression are over, he added. 'There is value everywhere as long as you have a professional organisation. Professionalism is the key.'
Jan de Kreij, CEO of listed retail investor Corio, sees no need to invest in China to grow his company further. 'There is still plenty to do in Turkey and Italy,' he said, pointing to opportunities for rental growth in these countries. But the days of easy profits in Europe from yield compression are over, he added. 'There is value everywhere as long as you have a professional organisation. Professionalism is the key.'
De Kreij was speaking at a session entitled 'Where is the product?' on the first day of the annual conference of the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) in Athens. Besides China, the panel also discussed emerging markets elsewhere in Asia, India and the Middle East. De Kreij was joined on the panel by Wolfhard Leichnitz, CEO of German listed real estate company IVG. While agreeing that the days of yield compression are over in the major European capitals such as London, Leichnitz argued that it was still possible to make a profit on what might seem initially to be an expensive European investment. 'An initial yield of 4.2% is not too expensive if you have a vacancy rate of 30%. In that case, we believe it should be possible to boost the yield to 5.5% or 6% in two years.'
See also our article on Corio's decision to sell its office portfolio.