Real estate investment will never be the same again following the COVID-19 crisis, as a growing focus on ESG and the increasingly operational nature of the asset class alter investors’ priorities and behavior.
Tamas Mark, head of real estate at IQ-EQ, says that property can no longer simply be viewed as a bond-like investment, while diversification within investor portfolios is also more important than ever.
“Before COVID, we looked at real estate as a bond-type asset, with investors investing a certain amount on day zero, and then getting a fixed yield every year,” says Mark. “At the end of the investment, there was an exit, a disposal, and investors got their money back, and even realized a capital gain. It was quite easy to predict, and there was very little to jeopardize it.
“Now, we learned after COVID, that it is not as simple as that, unfortunately. Real estate is not comparable to bonds; it is more complicated.”
At the same time, a bu
