Nils Kok, founder of the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) which assesses the sustainability performance of more than 1,000 property companies and portfolio managers, is joining real estate data platform Geophy to head up its new North American business.
Geophy, which currently has offices in Amsterdam and London, is opening an office in New York as part of its global expansion.
Kok, who is associate professor of finance and real estate at Maastricht University, will become chief economist at Geophy, responsible for developing the company’s business in North America. In this position he will engage with banks, pension funds and other real estate investors and lenders. He will also have a global role, using property data to produce new tools for investors in commercial real estate.
Commenting on his appointment, Kok said: ‘The global commercial real estate industry is currently valued at $13 tln of which the US and Canadian markets represent approximately 40%. The continued low yields on equity and fixed income investment has led to more capital flowing into commercial property, while at the same time real estate investors are increasingly investing in assets outside their domestic market, in places where they lack local knowledge. Reliable data to enable real estate investors and lenders to make accurate decisions has hitherto been elusive.’
