Many well-capitalized investors are waiting on the sidelines to enter the hospitality real estate sector once the COVID-19 crisis is over.
Matthew Pohlman and Martin Smith, who are both lawyers at Goodwin in London, have revealed that a number of their institutional investor clients are preparing to move into the hotel and restaurant markets once valuations and recovery trajectories for Europe’s economies become clearer.
Smith, a partner in Goodwin’s real estate industry group and a member of its real estate transactions and hospitality and leisure practices, says that access to the hospitality market was very difficult in the run-up to the COVID-19 crisis, as demand was high and investors found themselves priced out of the market. Now, however, with the prospect of a large pool of distressed assets appearing on the horizon, investors are waiting for the right time to bid for properties.
“There’s definitely a segment of the market that sees this as an op
