Fifth Wall, the largest venture capital firm focused on real estate technology, has partnered with BNP Paribas Real Estate to launch its business in Europe with the Fifth Wall Real Estate Technology European Fund, its first European proptech fund. The California-based company founded in 2016 has over $1.2 billion under management, raised from industry stakeholders via several funds.

CTP successfully issued a debut green bond for €650 million on 1 October 2020. CTP’s inaugural green bonds became the largest debut issuance by a CEE real estate company.  The bonds received a strong reception from investors and were several times oversubscribed with a peak order book in excess of €2 billion.

European markets with low levels of existing flexible workspace have seen the greatest growth in new flex operations over the first half of 2020, according to the latest flexible workspace report by Colliers International.

According to Savills, the impact of the pandemic is set to accelerate online retail penetration by an average of one year and, in turn, drive demand for prime logistics space in Europe.

A new report from Savills indicates that an integrated omnichannel strategy will lead the way as the European retail sector returns to a new normal.

Prologis has launched its Essentials Marketplace for Europe, a procurement tool that saves customers time when setting up, expanding or upgrading their operations. This online platform offers a raft of key warehouse interior products and fully managed instalment processes.

Warburg-HIH Invest Real Estate is improving the carbon footprint of its portfolio within the scope of its ESG strategy. The real estate portfolio is gradually being converted to an environmentally-friendly supply of electricity from ecological sources and heat from carbon-neutral natural gas. In joint undertaking with the Hamburg-based energy provider Lichtblick, a total of 126 properties are currently being converted to the use of green electricity. This will allow for a reduction of carbon emissions in the portfolio by around 7,500 tonnes annually. Warburg-HIH Invest will also be gradually converting its entire European real estate portfolio to green electricity.

New European hotel transaction data from Cushman & Wakefield reveals that the first half of 2020 saw a marked increase in investors retreating to their home regions amid COVID-19 related uncertainty, with 78% of the recorded €5.7 billion in transactions (a year-on-year fall of 55%) originating from within Europe.

In mid-March, when COVID-19 challenged every aspect of ‘normal’, the European higher education and student housing industries entered an unpredictable time with regards to knowing how best to secure positive learning and living experiences. Given the nearly daily changes accompanying the situation, many higher education institutions and student housing operators chose to follow an active co-learning path, flexible scenario-planning and making bold decisions when necessary. During the summer, Bonard and The Class of 2020 launched a joint research project with the aim to provide as accurate and up-to-date information as possible to assist industry leaders in making further strategic decisions to create more sustainable knowledge ecosystems for global talent amidst the pandemic.

The coronavirus crisis has led to a significant shift in the investment strategies of institutional real estate investors. “Lower risk, lower return” is the mantra of the moment. 58% of the 150 professional investors in Germany, France and the UK surveyed by Union Investment for its investment climate study are currently pursuing such a strategy. The figure was just 35% prior to the outbreak of the pandemic. The shift is especially pronounced in the UK, where security is the main investment motive for 79% of those surveyed. Before the pandemic, it was 50%. Nonetheless, there is no general reluctance to invest. Only five% of the European investors in the survey intend to avoid all investment in real estate in the current phase.