Welcome - September 2020

In these unusual times, we are all having to learn to adapt and be flexible. As the progress of the coronavirus and governments’ responses to it are proving unpredictable, it’s often a question of ‘managing just in case’ rather than ‘managing just in time’.  For the real estate industry this hasn’t just meant adjusting investment strategies to reflect the acceleration of major sector trends, but also adapting the way existing buildings are used – for example, modifying office spaces to meet the needs of greater social distancing and the changing functionality that accompanies more home working.

I’ve found it encouraging that the real estate industry, is adopting quickly to these challenging conditions.  But we’re clearly not out of the woods yet – it’s hard to know exactly what the ‘new normal’ will look like and developments continue to be very fluid.

I’ve found it encouraging that the real estate industry, is adopting quickly to these challenging conditions

Evidently, Governments across the globe are responding very differently to Covid-19, not only shaping the recovery but also the impact and opportunities that will arise at a real estate level. While we are still in a low interest rate environment, the bottom-up nature of this crisis is centred on operating income. 

INREV is an especially important instrument during a crisis to share insights, undertake relevant research and to facilitate dialogue allowing our members to share experiences and best practices. We also want to keep our industry looking onwards and upwards, and INREV will continue be the platform to support our members driving innovation around the megatrends already seen before the onset of the pandemic. 

INREV is an especially important instrument during a crisis to share insights, undertake relevant research and to facilitate dialogue allowing our members to share experiences and best practices

Many of these themes were discussed on day one of the online INREV Annual Conference.  Yanis Varoufakis, the Former Minister of Finance of Greece presented the global economic and geopolitical impact of COVID-19, while Lise Kingo, Former CEO of the United Nations Global Compact focused on its social impact in the context of sustainable development goals.  Meanwhile Bernard Kouchner, co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières, looks at how different global regions are handling the pandemic and why Asia and Africa seem to be coping better than Europe or America.

This year, we're proud to have welcomed over 850 of our membership community to the online annual conference setting, including more young professionals than ever before.  Since the start of the pandemic, we have moved all our events and training courses online and a quarter more members have got involved. This has been mainly due to the convenience and lower cost of not needing to travel – particularly significant for members outside Europe, whose numbers are growing.  

INREV is determined to make the most of these coronavirus ‘silver linings’ in the long run.