Real IS unfazed by high vacancies in Dutch market

German closed-end fund manager Real IS is planning more investments in the Dutch office market, despite the country’s exceptionally high vacancy levels, CEO Jochen Schenk told PropertyEU on the first day of the EXPO REAL trade fair in Munich on Tuesday. On Monday, PropertyEU revealed that a special public-private taskforce has urged banks and investors to write down some EUR 7 bn on their Dutch assets to return the sector to health.

While conceding that the current capital market turbulence and eurozone woes were also a source of concern, Schenk said he still felt ‘comfortable’ investing in the Netherlands. ‘There’s a huge difference between A and B locations. A few years ago, there wasn’t much core stock available but the Dutch pension funds and other institutional investors are not trading so much at the moment so we’re now seeing opportunities.’

Schenk said he expected to invest between EUR 500 and EUR 800 mln in the coming year and that a new acquisition in the Netherlands was on the cards in the next month. In the past three years, REAL IS has forked out nearly EUR 500 mln on office buildings in the Netherlands. Schenk said he would continue to focus on the major cities in the western agglommeration of the country, and that the focus would remain on core offices at prime locations. ‘We have no experience in retail although I don’t rule out investing in that class at a later stage.’

France is also a target, Schenk said. ´We are not focussing on inner city Paris, but we feel comfortable with the western districts.´ The German investor is also active in Marseille and Lyon, he added. ´Both these cities have large city developments and these markets are still stable.´

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