European property investors are facing a double whammy of injecting fresh equity into assets due to refinancing issues and bringing assets up to standard to meet strict ESG regulations – which could spell a liquidity shock in the future.
Speaking to PropertyEU at Expo Real, Mike Bessell, MD and Europe research strategist at Invesco Real Estate, said that refinancing issues could lead to investors having to put further equity into assets due to the cost of debt having risen significantly in the past 12-18 months to a much higher level than when assets were initially bought.
At the same time, owners are likely looking at business plans for assets that require some capex to comply with energy efficiency standards.
‘These two events combined are going to force owners to re-examine their assets over the next two or three years and really consider their longer-term strategies,’ Bessell said, adding: ‘We are expecting that to bring attractive stock to market.’
He noted: ‘We feel like a lot of the mechanical re-pricing is through, which we are watching very carefully as we go into next year. If you have motivated sales coming potentially out of core owners and the greatest liquidity is for higher return strategies, we are asking if that could just create a little more pricing upset?’
Invesco is not immune from such pressures in real estate. The company has $15 bn (€14.2 bn) of European assets under management – that’s 18% of its global portfolio spread across numerous asset classes.
But Bessell said: ‘We are very comfortable with our liquidity positions on our current funds and existing assets, and comfortable with our ESG strategy for those assets.
‘This needs to be where we really maintain discipline on our existing portfolio to make sure we have those future growth plans in place.’
