Property advisory consolidation is inevitable, says BNP Paribas

Global property services firms have expanded too rapidly over the past years with some having fuelled this expansion with short-term debt finance that is
proving challenging to re-finance, according to Patrick Curran, managing director of BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland.

Curran said other firms find themselves in the position of having to go through rights issues at deeply discounted share prices. As a result, pressure will be on many of the global property consultancy firms in the medium term to consolidate further in the next few years.

'We can expect to see only a handful of commercial property consultancies survive,' Curran said. He added: 'The few firms that survive will in my opinion proceed to dominate the advisory market. The future for small independently owned firms is likely to be exceptionally challenging as globalisation of the advisory business is the only way forward.'

Large multinationals will insist on doing business only with well established, properly funded firms with proven international track records based on strong professionalism and established codes of work practice, including transparency and compliance.

Curran confirmed that BNP Paribas Real Estate is well placed to play a leading role in the coming consolidation. 'In the past 12 months we have expanded into Jersey, Romania, India and the Middle East as well as growing our presence in the UK and Belgium with further acquisitions,' he concluded.