EXPERT'S OPINION

With financing, cash-flow and returns all the more challenging, we examine the potential advantages of a forward funding or forward sale structure and the economic sense it can make. Forward funding and forward sale transactions add significant flexibility to the market, in terms of funding and delivering real estate product.

As the COVID-19 situation progresses, central banks and governments across the world are seeking to support their unwell citizens, pressured healthcare systems and challenged economies through expansion and fiscal policies. 

As Ireland transitions to the final stages of the Government’s Roadmap for Re-opening Society and Business, some of the short term impacts for businesses are starting to surface however it will be some time before long term impacts can be evaluated.

The 2008 financial crisis created a severe impact in all markets, causing many companies to rethink the way in which they worked. A large number of offices closed and there was a clear trend towards optimisation of space as companies sought to reduce fixed costs to improve cash flow.

BNP Paribas Real Estate manages approx 43.7 million square metres of commercial real estate throughout Europe and as one of the Top 3 office developers in Europe we are always at the forefront of Property & Facilities Management.

With the economy severely impacted, but improving, Irish society is learning to live with the restrictions of Covid19, while also progressing, and reclaiming elements of former lives and freedoms.

The evolving COVID-19 pandemic will affect all aspects of the commercial and residential property markets in Ireland both from both a rental and capital value perspective and the depth of its impact will be determined by the length of time it takes to get the crisis under control – an imponderable estimate at this stage.

As we endure the ongoing COVID-19 Health crisis, BNP Paribas Real Estate Ireland Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets Kenneth Rouse gives us his observations and answers some of the more pertinent questions often put to him.