Germany’s senior living market is entering a period of rapid expansion, driven by accelerating demographic change, improving affordability, and a shift away from traditional nursing home models, according to Kip Sloane, managing director at SCHÖNES LEBEN Group. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, Sloane said the fundamentals supporting premium senior housing in Germany are now firmly in place, creating what he described as a rare window of opportunity for both operators and investors. “The market is a huge opportunity,” Sloane said. “We've got the right product, which is premium senior housing. Then we've got a huge demand accelerating [through] demographic change over the baby boomers.” He added that affordability is a critical part of the equation, distinguishing Germany from other European senior living markets. “People can actually pay for what they seek,” he said. “That is, for me, a huge momentum in the market, because the market structure has been kind of stiff throughout the last decade. And it's ripe for change and more development.” SCHÖNES LEBEN’s model focuses on premium living delivered as a central service, combining conventional rental housing with a wide range of on-site amenities. Apartments are unfurnished, typically around 70 sq m, and are designed to function as full private homes rather than care units. Residents can access a broad service offering, including housekeeping, facility management, and a 24-hour concierge. “We offer all the services you can think of,” Sloane said. “We’ve got a restaurant, a bar, a cafe, and we have utility spaces like a fitness area. We've got a sauna, maybe a swimming pool.” Care provision forms another core pillar of the concept, but Sloane stressed that SCHÖNES LEBEN does not operate nursing homes. Instead, care is delivered through mobile care and daycare services integrated into the residential environment. “I do have to explain that it's not a nursing home and that there are alternatives to nursing homes, which is, from a perspective of a customer, extremely important,” he said. “They want something different than a classical nursing home in 90% of the cases.” Once the concept is explained, it resonates quickly with residents and families, particularly when framed in a wider European context. “If one thinks of how do I want my Mum, my Dad, or myself to age, it snaps,” Sloane said. “I can just say, look at [integrated retirement communities] in the UK, just take a look over there, and then it's explainable.” From a regulatory perspective, Sloane said premium senior living offers significantly greater operational flexibility than traditional stationary care. “If you go into premium senior living, you basically don't have this high regulation,” he said. While rent legislation applies, he noted that mobile care is subject to far lighter regulation than nursing homes. “That makes it more flexible for me,” he said. “And I do have more niches for entrepreneurial freedom, which is always important on the operating side.” Looking ahead, SCHÖNES LEBEN has a substantial development pipeline already in place. “We have six more projects which have already been contractually signed, and which we will open throughout the next three years,” Sloane said. “And we're aiming at 10 to maybe, if all goes right, 15 new sites within the next five years.” www.shha.international www.realassetmedia.com

Indoor air quality is emerging as a commercial and regulatory priority for real estate owners, with growing evidence that combining air quality monitoring with energy management can improve tenant retention, asset performance, and financial outcomes, according to Jan-Kristian Westerlund, chief commercial officer at freesi. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, Westerlund said indoor air quality has historically been under-appreciated in property investment, but is now gaining prominence following the Covid-19 pandemic and Europe’s energy crisis. “It’s a topic that is relatively new, so it needs more awareness,” he said. “However, after Covid and the energy crisis, it has increased in need through regulation.” Westerlund pointed to the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which will require indoor air quality monitoring and control in non-residential buildings across the EU. He said this regulatory shift has significantly accelerated adoption among property owners and managers. “The new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive is now requiring implementation of indoor air quality monitoring and control in all non-residential assets,” he said. “This has increased the awareness tremendously.” Freesi works with a broad range of real estate stakeholders, from commercial portfolio owners to cities and municipalities, with its technology now used by more than 100 cities. Westerlund said the company’s focus extends beyond data collection to ensuring that insights are understood and acted on across organisations. “It’s about the people adopting, learning how to use the technology, and using it to make improvements for air quality in buildings,” he said. This requires engagement across the entire ownership and management chain, from facilities teams and tenants to asset managers and portfolio owners responsible for financial performance. “We work a lot with the stakeholders, from properties to facilities managers, to the actual tenants, to the asset managers who are commercially responsible for the buildings, and to portfolio owners who make them as financial products,” he said. While indoor air quality monitoring is increasingly driven by regulation, Westerlund said clients remain focused on commercial outcomes. Many landlords are integrating indoor climate management alongside heating, ventilation, and cooling optimisation to ensure that energy savings do not come at the expense of occupant health. “Whenever they’re doing energy management on heating, ventilation, and cooling, they will always implement indoor climate management to bring the safeguard that they never do it [while] compromising the health, well-being, and comfort of the people inside the buildings,” he said. Improved air quality also supports tenant engagement and retention, which Westerlund described as a critical driver of asset-level financial performance. “Through better tenant engagement and satisfaction, the landlords are able to retain their tenants for a longer time,” he said. “This, of course, is critical for the finances of the assets.” On the investment side, Westerlund said decision-making is increasingly data-driven, with financial metrics central to adoption. “Our decision makers are financial decision makers, so they need to see the numbers,” he said. “They need to see the net operating income, how it changes from this. They need to see how long is the payback time for implementing this.” At the same time, freesi also works closely with sustainability teams, particularly where indoor air quality data supports reporting on social and health-related ESG metrics. “This is a perfect way of making it tangible in an area that is otherwise a little bit difficult for real estate managers,” Westerlund said. www.realassetimpact.com www.realassetmedia.com

People and capital must come together if European cities are to attract long-term investment and remain competitive, according to Annelou de Groot, chief executive officer for the Netherlands at Cushman & Wakefield. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, de Groot said successful city investment strategies depend on aligning capital deployment with social outcomes. “The key takeaways for me is that it’s about two things. It’s about people and capital. And we need to combine both of them,” she said. She pointed to Cushman & Wakefield’s research into inclusive cities, arguing that investment decisions must go beyond financial metrics alone. “It’s not only around capital, it’s also around being inclusive,” de Groot said. She defined inclusivity as resting on four core pillars: sustainability, diversity, affordability and accessibility. While challenges vary widely across Europe, de Groot highlighted housing affordability as a shared pressure point. “What we see in general in Europe is that the affordability piece, mainly for housing, is a big challenge,” she said, adding that cities show far greater divergence when it comes to sustainability, accessibility and diversity. Looking ahead, de Groot said defence spending is set to become a major structural driver of urban development and real estate demand across Europe. “We are just at the start of a huge, huge impact of defence industry in the real estate markets, but also cities in Europe,” she said. She noted that European countries have committed to allocating around 3.5% of GDP to defence, a shift that will reshape demand patterns. “We will now be more focused on people. We will now be more focused on production, on logistics and on innovation campuses,” she said. Those priorities, she added, will translate directly into property markets. “These expenditures will also come down to real estate expenditures,” de Groot said. As European cities adapt to these structural changes, she argued that closer cooperation between the public and private sectors will be essential. “The big thing is to collaborate even more, public parties and private parties, not only to do the defence expenditures, but also to become a better city that combines growth together with sustainability and inclusivity,” she said. www.realassetinsight.com www.realfdi.com www.realassetimpact.com

Falling interest rates should help revive activity across the US commercial real estate market, supporting higher transaction and lending volumes, according to Vikram Killampali, senior director and manager of US commercial real estate finance syndications at Helaba. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, Killampali was taking part in what he said was the first panel hosted in Germany by a US real estate lending organisation, aimed at giving European investors greater visibility on conditions and opportunities in the US commercial real estate market. He said the outlook for interest rates was turning more supportive for deal activity. “Right now, because there's a story about declining interest rates, that should be positive for the commercial real estate market, and that should spur activity, acquisition volume and more loan volume for banks like Helaba,” he said. He said the office sector continues to represent the main area of stress across US commercial real estate lending. “The challenge that I can see is consistent with what we've been experiencing for the past 18 months, which is in the office subsector, where there has been the most distress,” Killampali said. He added that the impact of the pandemic continues to weigh on office markets in many US cities. “After COVID, the office subsector and a lot of markets got hit very, very badly, and that's what caused a lot of loan losses for banks like Helaba and others with an office portfolio,” he said. Despite these pressures, Killampali said he remains positive on the medium-term outlook. “With that said, [I'm] excited about the prospects of commercial real estate industry in the US in the next couple of years.” www.realassetinsight.com www.realassetmedia.com

Warsaw’s long-term transformation of its city centre is strengthening the quality of life, attracting talent, and boosting private-sector investment, according to Maciej Fijałkowski, secretary of the City of Warsaw. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, Fijałkowski said the Polish capital’s strategy focuses on combining heritage, contemporary development, and future growth, while positioning Warsaw as an open and inclusive city. “Our transformation track is one of combining history, contemporary and future in the city, along with a specific approach of being an open city for everyone who would like to come to the city of Warsaw,” he said. “Our goal is to make the city as good for living as possible — a city of high-quality services, but also a green city.” Fijałkowski said Warsaw is now one of Europe’s greenest capitals, supported by strong public transport connectivity and a high standard of urban services. A central pillar of this strategy is the redevelopment of the city centre, branded by the municipality as the “new city centre”. “Our priority in the last years and in the following years is the transformation of the city centre,” he said. “We transform public spaces and create better quality public space in markets, squares and parks to make the city as liveable as possible.” He added that high-quality public spaces, combined with safety and cleanliness, are key to Warsaw’s appeal for both residents and newcomers. “Warsaw is a very safe city — which is not obvious in European cities — it’s a clean city, and that makes it good for people to live in,” he said. According to Fijałkowski, improving liveability also supports economic development by expanding the city’s talent base. “By building high-quality public spaces in the city centre, we encourage people who already live in the city and those who would like to come but are looking for a place to move,” he said. “We try to show them it’s a good place for you.” He said this talent attraction is directly linked to investment potential. “If we enhance this pool of talent, if we encourage people to live and work in Warsaw, it gives them the opportunity to develop their skills and their dreams,” he said. “It also helps potential investors to make new projects.” Fijałkowski added that successful urban development depends on a balanced ecosystem. “All this requires all elements to work together — good investment projects from the private sector, high-quality services from the public sector, and demand from people,” he said. www.RealFDI.com www.realassetmedia.com

Falling interest rates should help revive activity across the US commercial real estate market, supporting higher transaction and lending volumes, according to Vikram Killampali, senior director and manager of US commercial real estate finance syndications at Helaba. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, Killampali was taking part in what he said was the first panel hosted in Germany by a US real estate lending organisation, aimed at giving European investors greater visibility on conditions and opportunities in the US commercial real estate market. He said the outlook for interest rates was turning more supportive for deal activity. “Right now, because there's a story about declining interest rates, that should be positive for the commercial real estate market, and that should spur activity, acquisition volume and more loan volume for banks like Helaba,” he said. He said the office sector continues to represent the main area of stress across US commercial real estate lending. “The challenge that I can see is consistent with what we've been experiencing for the past 18 months, which is in the office subsector, where there has been the most distress,” Killampali said. He added that the impact of the pandemic continues to weigh on office markets in many US cities. “After COVID, the office subsector and a lot of markets got hit very, very badly, and that's what caused a lot of loan losses for banks like Helaba and others with an office portfolio,” he said. Despite these pressures, Killampali said he remains positive on the medium-term outlook. “With that said, [I'm] excited about the prospects of commercial real estate industry in the US in the next couple of years.”

Heribert Gangl, head of hotels and tourism at Erste Group Bank, said Central and Eastern Europe is entering a new phase of maturity in student housing and serviced living as demand spreads from more established Western European markets. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, he said: "There seems to be good, positive dynamics in student housing and serviced living in CEE now, spreading over from the more established, mature western markets, and these are also the CEE markets where we focus on and are very keen to find new assets in this asset class." Gangl highlighted that institutional activity is reshaping the market as major operators extend their reach across the region. "What we have seen is now that there are a few dominant players building really large, sustainable platforms who are also now expanding in these parts, and this is going to continue, I believe, with a few major brands and owners, as investors are developing this space currently, especially due to student housing." He added that although inflation-led rent growth may begin to ease, demand drivers remain strong. "I think in the last two years this growth has obviously been driven by the overall inflation, the underlying inflation, and with that, the rent increases in the residential market, so I would expect this to slow down with the slowing inflation rates as well." He said: "But overall there's still a good growth perspective in terms of demand and on the rent side for student housing and serviced living products and co-living products, which is very much linked to the local residential market."

Jennifer Dixon, founder and chief executive officer of JD Solutions Group, said the European senior living sector offers a significant opportunity for US investors as demographic pressures and low penetration rates begin to reshape demand across the region. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, she said the level of global interest remains striking. "There were so many different takeaways from [the] sessions and I think what was really surprising to me is that there is still just an incredible amount of interest and opportunity in the senior living market when we speak to that globally," she said. Dixon noted that the US market has already undergone consolidation and a rise in investor sophistication. "In the United States, we’ve seen significant condensing of operators and investment and we’ve seen a real sophistication on the part of investors in terms of understanding how they look at the data and their own operating structure," she said. "So, that’s been really interesting to look at and it’ll be an interesting theme to see as investors from all over the world and from the US come into this market — what that will play out as." She said American investors looking towards Europe need to understand regional nuances. "The more that US and American investors can understand the opportunities in the European and the German market, the market in Spain, the market in UK — it’s important for them to understand some of the nuances of those markets to be able to feel confident and investing there," she said. A key part of that, she added, is recognising the strength of the local operators already active in the market. "There are great and fantastic operators who are already in the space right now in Europe. And that’s been my greatest takeaway of meeting some of these incredible operators and learning about the things that they are doing." Dixon highlighted the scale of the opportunity by comparing penetration rates. "If you were just to look at the numbers right now, when you look at the market penetration in the United States can be anywhere from maybe 6% on the low end, all the way up to 12, 13, 14% in some heavily dense markets," she said. By contrast, she said, the figure in Europe remains far lower. "When you take that and you compare it to looking at the markets in Europe — I believe the number I heard was less than 1% in terms of market penetration, that’s an incredible opportunity," she said. "And if you pair that with looking at the incoming wave of boomers who are coming right now, it’s very similar across the board." She said the shortage of housing options for seniors is now becoming a global issue. "We are facing a shortage of housing options for our seniors. And, so, this is a problem that we can all work together to solve," she said. "There are many misperceptions and misconceptions about senior living." Even in the US, she added, misunderstanding persists. "And even in an advanced market like the United States where senior living has been around for a long time, there is still this false perception that it isn’t about independence, it isn’t about preventative health. It isn’t about any of those things," she said. Looking ahead, Dixon said the messaging around senior living needs to reflect its real purpose. "When we look at the messages that we have to carry, we have to understand how senior housing can help support that," she said. "What we’re looking at is how do we help our residents, our seniors live longer, live stronger, live very vibrant lives." www.SHHA.international www.realassetinsight.com

Digital transformation is becoming an urgent priority for real estate owners and occupiers as artificial intelligence reshapes operating models, according to Daniele Di Fausto, chief executive officer at eFM. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, he said the sector is only now beginning to confront the scale of change required. "The market is starting, so digital players, especially in the real estate, are far behind digitalisation, but now artificial intelligence is coming, and some clients are preparing for the new journey," he said. "There are three reasons that real estate, especially for corporations, is a non-core function. So, they invest more in the production side, in the core business, and not in the real estate." He added that digital adoption has been held back by organisational silos and a historical lack of pressure to cut costs. "Now the situation has completely changed, so we are living in a crisis, and companies are trying to adapt easily; otherwise, they will be out of the market." Di Fausto said the most immediate benefit for clients is the speed of decision-making. "The level of ability to change in getting information, in processing and getting fast results is one of the key drivers. After some time that they are using, the other point is productivity. And, so, efficiency is a consequence of the adoption." Yet cultural resistance remains one of the biggest obstacles. "Even internally, they are struggling to have training and explaining the benefits of this approach to the employee. And the reason why is that AI will even cut a lot of jobs. And, so, the adoption has even negative consequences in the employment of the people." eFM is working with major corporates undergoing large-scale transformation. "We have different big clients in Germany. One of the biggest is Bosch. So, we have corporations that have millions of sq m, and they are facing this transformation, so they are using eFM in order to make a transformation in the digital estate," he said. "In the United States, even we have big clients like Samsung, San Diego Gas & Electric." Banks across Europe are also reconsidering how branches should operate in a digital environment. "It's very important to start with a pilot project to prove the value of the technology and then to prepare the scalability," he said. "What we are seeing is that most of the companies are building digital agents for their employees." Demographic pressures add urgency. "In the next five years, the workforce in Europe will be half. So, the big problem that we will face is the number of people with a technician background [who will retire]. No new people coming from university," he said. "How we can face the loss of knowledge and how AI can be another [resource] to help this transition and not losing the knowledge and helping us to increase the productivity?" He expects hybrid human–AI teams to become commonplace. "In the next five years, we will have a lot of teams hybrid with normal people and digital agents to be managed in an integrated way. And this will be a cultural issue for a manager to have an employee and agents to manage together." Di Fausto warned that companies that delay action risk falling behind. "It's becoming a necessity not to postpone the adoption of digitalisation. Without data, it's not possible to have a digital strategy," he said. "More they will start, more they will learn. But if they do not start, they will lose the competition to others very, very soon. So not having a strategy in place with artificial intelligence in real estate can cost millions of euros to the company that will start in one year or two year time frame." www.realassetimpact.com www.realassetmedia.com

Romania's North-East region is positioning itself as an emerging investment destination, backed by major EU funding, expanding industrial capacity and proximity to fast-developing markets. Speaking to Courtney Fingar, editor of REAL FDI, Sebastian Hrib, head of the Brussels Office at the North-East Regional Development Agency of Romania, said the area combines untapped potential with accelerating modernisation. The region covers around 37,000 square kilometres – larger than Belgium – and is home to 3.3 million people. It benefits from a €1.75 billion EU investment package running through 2027. Iași, the region's largest city, acts as a research and innovation hub supported by universities, R&D centres and one of Romania's busiest airports. The wider area has industrial heritage, an expanding agro-food sector and a developing technology ecosystem. Priority sectors, based on the region's smart specialisation strategy, include IT&C, health, energy and environment, textiles, tourism and agrifood. When asked what is drawing foreign interest, Hrib pointed to strategic positioning. "We are in a window of opportunity that opens only once in a couple of decades due to geopolitical status," he said. "We sit right next to Ukraine and Moldova. Ukraine, we already know, will need reconstruction. And Moldova is an EU candidate state, a future part of the EU single market." The region offers multiple entry points for investors, supported by 4.5% unemployment, nine industrial parks with expansion capacity, and state aid intensity of 50–60% of investment value. "Add to that political stability, the next elections are in four years, and a high number of people who speak English and make doing business easier," he said. Priority locations include industrial parks near Iași, Bacău, and Suceava, which are positioned to become technology and logistics hubs. Dedicated EU funding is available for infrastructure, digitalisation and innovation. Hrib acknowledged the region faces lower GDP per capita, labour productivity needs and infrastructure gaps. However, he stressed that foreign direct investment can help close the gap. "To do that, we need to become more competitive, to create more value and to bring in industries that generate high added value and naturally high wages," he said. A key strength is the local talent pipeline. "We are the largest academic hub in Eastern Romania, with more than 60,000 students every year. And that is a powerful engine for any investor looking for long-term growth." International companies, including Amazon and Continental, are already active in the region, alongside Romanian groups such as Antibiotice and Autonom. The North-East Regional Development Agency works with local authorities and financial institutions to support incoming investors. "The most important message today is we are reliable, open and fast to respond," Hrib said. "As an investor or consultant, you will always find an answer, a partner and a solution with us." Investors can contact the agency via LinkedIn or through its website aderenordest.ro. www.realfdi.com www.realassetmedia.com

Regional investors and domestic buyers are playing a growing role in Poland's real estate market as cross-border capital within Central and Eastern Europe expands and Polish businesses increase their exposure to institutional assets. Speaking to Real Asset Media after a CEE investment briefing held at the CMS offices in London, Michał Mieciński, partner in the real estate and construction team at CMS, said the event brought together leading industry panellists and highlighted both the market’s growing maturity and the shift in capital sources. "One of the subjects we've been discussing was the source of capital, and we see regional capital being more and more important." He noted that neighbouring countries are increasingly active in Poland. "For example, Czech investors investing into Poland, Lithuanian investors investing into real estate in Poland. So, we see this intra-regional cooperation and investment opportunities." However, a long-delayed policy change continues to weigh on the market. "Unfortunately, we don't have REITs in Poland, and work on that structure has been suspended so far by the Polish government," he said. "We still do hope that this will return, and eventually we'll have REITs in Poland." Despite that absence, domestic buyers are increasingly active. "In the recent year, we see significant increase of Polish capital into real estate transactions. Compared to last year, when it was roughly 10% of all investments in Poland, this year it's roughly 25%," he said. The trend is visible across multiple sectors. "So, we see Polish businesses investing into institutional real estate, into offices, but also other sectors."

Financial considerations are becoming the driving force behind Europe’s decarbonisation of real estate, according to Aleksander Grabecki, counsel at CMS. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, he said retrofitting is now the only viable route to meet looming EU climate deadlines. Grabecki said landlords face a tight regulatory window. “The EU is pretty clear about all the buildings needing to be net zero in 2030. It’s in five years, basically; it’s one lease cycle away — not much time.” He added that “80% of the existing buildings will be with us until 2050, so much longer”, meaning new developments cannot replace enough stock to meet demand. He pointed to the sector’s carbon footprint. “The built environment is accountable for 42% of the carbon emissions worldwide… and two-thirds of that is really operational carbon footprint, and only one-third is the embodied carbon footprint.” This means, he said, that “construction and demolition of the buildings is only one-third, and two-thirds is the energy bills, water consumption, things like that, so it’s decades of bills being paid”. The financial case for retrofitting now aligns directly with ESG outcomes. “The conclusion of that is that we really can do it and should do it from the financial perspective… so basically, caring about the melting icebergs is also caring about the Excel of the financial fund.” Digital tools are strengthening the link between emissions reduction and operating costs. “Now with AI and much more digital tools like building information modelling (BIM), and things like that, real estate agencies offering services like plug-ins to building management systems (BMS), allowing you to cut costs for some savings that could translate into rent increases; it really creates a good environment actually to tweak with the ESG credentials.” He said the key message from the market is clear: “This is the key takeaway, when we can basically marry the financials with caring about the climate.”

Poland's living sectors are evolving from niche offerings into recognised institutional investment products as student housing, micro-living, and co-living models expand across the market, according to Agata Jurek-Zbrojska, partner and head of real estate and construction at CMS in Poland. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, she said the evolution of those sub-sectors across Europe has changed how investors view the wider living market. "It's wonderful to observe the students' housing and the other sectors of living like micro living and co-living in [recent] years in Europe," she said. "I think that this evolved from the niche sector to the [core] real estate asset class, and we do see in particular student housing models as the investment products in Europe, across all countries in fact." Although Poland remains earlier in its development cycle, she said growth is strong and accelerating. "For Poland this is still the really very dynamically evolving asset class," she said. "We still do have a shortage of professional student housing. Micro and co-living are really, really like a micro percentage, but this is really growing, in particular the student housing." The rise is mainly driven by the influx of international students and the expansion of English-language programmes at Polish universities. "This is connected in particular with the flow of international students to the Polish cities, and of course again this is connected with the evolution of the Polish universities, which focused also on growing possibilities for international students to study in English," she said. Jurek-Zbrojska expects demand to continue strengthening in the short term as more investors seek exposure to the sector. "So, that's really important. In the short term, I think that this dynamic will be the same. So, there will be an inflow of new investors, I hope, in this sector." She said macroeconomic conditions remain an external factor, but Poland's fundamentals present a solid case for capital targeting student housing. "Of course, everything depends on the macroeconomic situation and some questions which we cannot answer, and they are independent of anybody, of ourselves," she said. "But taking into account the economic growth and other economic indicators in Poland, I believe that this will give strong arguments for investors to come to this sector in particular." She added that both international and domestic student growth — combined with rising household incomes — should support continued market expansion. "When you see the growth of international students coming, the growth of the students — also national — and obviously the economic growth in Poland allows also the national students to use a bit more expensive student accommodation," she said.

Property and investment managers are still struggling to work effectively with the volume of data generated across real estate, but AI tools and closer alignment between stakeholders can significantly improve outcomes, according to Mike Harrison, executive vice president and chief strategy officer at NTrust. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, Harrison said the sector continues to grapple with incomplete, inconsistent datasets. "The industry is still struggling with data. There's a lot of data. Is it clean data, and is it available when you need it? Is it comprehensive? Does it cover all the components needed to make good business decisions? The answer today is not really." He said AI and structured human-in-the-loop processes can materially accelerate data preparation and standardisation. "Now with AI and with human-in-the-loop capabilities, structured capabilities in terms of managing process, we can turn data around very much more effectively as a platform through data as a service, and so by applying AI concepts and algorithms to the data, we can now clean it much faster and provide more data on a more regular basis." For investment managers, the priority is speed. "As an investment manager, you're always looking for the opportunity to source the data quickly, so you can do your real job, which is managing the asset and determining the strategies and within the lifecycle," he said. "But a lot of time we spend just cleaning and managing data." Harrison said better coordination between property managers and investment managers remains essential. "The idea is to get the property managers on the same page with the investment managers on process and timing and what is needed in terms of reporting," he said. "So I think that is the biggest challenge, and finding the right hub to share information and have visibility and accountability is critical to the process." He added that firms should always test operational changes before fully rolling them out. "If you're looking at a technology, a new process, a change in organisation structure, a third-party provider, you always pilot that first, confirm that it's really going to work before you put your feet in. Change management's big." NTrust supports clients through these transitions with structured frameworks. "What we do is we provide playbooks and onboarding concepts and then project management around that through our organisation and through some of our partners to help clients make that change because it is a big change," he said. Harrison emphasised that clear objectives and strong communication are vital. "It is important to plan and to structure with any type of change, whether it's organisational change, process change, data and system changes. You always want to put together a plan, and the plan is not just to get through it," " he said. "The plan is to improve things, have good objectives, and then set the plan out for everyone to understand, buy into the process, have the objectives in front of everyone so they understand what you're really trying to achieve and then work together. It's important; communications are critical." "We support all of that. We're engaged in a lot of that. We have partners that do that work, but it's critical for our clients as we walk through the process together," he said.

Martin Betts, vice-president of commercial real estate, EMEA, at NTrust, said real estate investors are increasingly frustrated by the time and money they spend trying to manage fragmented data, a problem he argues can now be solved with AI-driven tools. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, Betts said the issue has become a constant theme in conversations with senior executives. “The question I'm being constantly asked, or it's just an issue they're having, is how much time people are spending trying to sort data out,” he said. “Literally, I've just come from a discussion with a CEO, a fund manager, where he said, I've fed up of paying people to just try and manage data and not utilise it. It's costing me a fortune.” Betts said NTrust’s NSigma3 platform centralises and standardises multiple data types and formats so that fund managers and investment teams can focus on higher-value work. “Our platform called NSigma3 solves that problem, where that problem is no longer dealt with by the fund manager or the investment manager,” he said. “We're then dealing with that problem with data as a service, so we are leaving their data analyst team or their asset management team to go ahead and do their day-to-day jobs and not try and struggle with the complexities of multiple data types and formats and whatever from lots of different providers. Freeing them up to do their jobs, that's what our platform allows them to do.” However, he said the market still needs clearer understanding of how the technology works and why this generation of platforms is different from earlier attempts. “Education is needed,” he said. “I think people have seen these data platforms come and go. This is different. The AI has been trained on 20 years of experience of all the data that's come through our business, and that allows real efficiencies in time.” Betts added that the system blends automation with human oversight. “You do need the human in the loop, but 90% of that time is being taken by AI and 10% by the human reviewer to deliver data consistently, but also correctly as well.”

Turku is positioning itself as one of the Nordic region's most dynamic investment locations as strong growth in life sciences, innovation, and major waterfront development reshape the Finnish city, according to Vesa Palander, director of business and economic development at the City of Turku. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, Palander said Turku's long history and fast-expanding economic base underpin its current momentum. "Turku is the previous capital of Finland. We turned 800 years old in 2029, making it the oldest city in Finland — about 350,000 inhabitants in the Greater Turku region," he said. "We're growing pretty fast, 2% per annum. It's a city that combines history and innovation. For example, makers of the biggest cruise ships in the world." Life sciences remain one of the city's strongest economic pillars. "We export about 75% of Finnish pharmaceutical products and services, diagnostics, life sciences, women's health tech," Palander said, adding that Turku is also "pretty strong in artificial intelligence, trying to be the kind of leading government tech city in the Nordics, hopefully even at the European level". He noted that real estate opportunities are expanding alongside economic growth. "Plenty of things are happening as well in all areas of real estate investment," he said. Much of the current development is concentrated around Turku's coastline and riverfront. "We start basically from the seaside, because Turku is the key [port gateway] to the Finnish archipelago. We have about 40,000 islands," he said. "Currently, it's maybe a city divided by a river, but we really, really wanted to make a sea city." New schemes include "a residential area close to the Turku castle, which is at the river mouth," as well as mixed-use districts that combine homes and offices. Turku Science Park, already home to two universities and thousands of workers, is a core focus for further expansion. "Two universities in the area, 20,000 students, 40,000 professionals already," he said. "That's an area which we really, really want to make one of the leading hubs in the whole Nordics." Women's health technology is emerging as a global export engine. "Women's health technology is maybe the strongest area. We're exporting billions of pills basically to all different areas. Bayer, a German company, has its state-of-the-art production facilities in Turku," Palander said. "A lot of R&D as well. The universities have a lot of research going on in the life sciences area. And it's also a very lively startup scene in life sciences." Tourism and leisure investment also offer untapped potential, particularly across the region's vast archipelago. "Turku archipelago is probably the best-kept secret in the whole country," he said. With "40,000 unique islands combining Finland and Orland," the area presents new possibilities for sustainable hospitality and recreational projects. "That's an area which is pretty much untouched from real estate development perspective as well. A lot of unique opportunities for building up that next experience, whether it's for wintertime tourism or summertime. So, the Turku archipelago is definitely the place to invest."

Elín Guðnadóttir, programme director at Kadeco, said the push for sustainability and decarbonisation in real estate will only succeed if global ambitions translate into locally grounded implementation. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, she emphasised that the sector’s biggest challenge is aligning municipal and institutional stakeholders behind a shared vision. Guðnadóttir said the industry often treats sustainability as a fixed plan, but in practice it functions best as “a process” that creates space for collaboration. “You can make the strategy, like you have a beautiful project, and you make a very comprehensive sustainability strategy. However, if you look at it as a process, it is a platform for dialogue between key stakeholders,” she said. For Kadeco, which works across two municipalities and alongside airport authorities, that dialogue-first approach is essential from the outset. “And in our states now, it's more about dialogue with the municipalities, with airport authorities, creating that trust between those stakeholders and then taking it further to the implementation stage, getting financiers or companies or businesses that want to establish themselves,” she said. “Then we already have that trust between the key local stakeholders.” Achieving alignment is rarely straightforward, she acknowledged, because sustainability still means different things to different groups. “Getting people on the same page with this is always a challenge, but it's also getting people to an understanding of it. What does it mean? But it's also about listening,” she said. As a land developer, Guðnadóttir said Kadeco’s approach is rooted in understanding local needs before pursuing wider ambitions. “The key thing for us as a land developer, as the owner of the land, but actually operating within two local municipalities, is to listen and understand the local needs. And we won't do anything globally unless we have the local stakeholders with us.”

Commercial real estate professionals must adapt to shifting global dynamics by rethinking how decisions support long-term business performance, according to Paul Danks, international representative on the SIOR Board and director at DRG Group. Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, Danks said: "What we're seeing right now is that the real competitive edge in commercial real estate comes from understanding how global forces are shaping local markets and being able to respond quickly to those changes." "At SIOR, we have over 4,000 members in over 50 countries, which gives us a constant stream of on-the-ground insight, and that's vital when clients are looking not just for advice but for forward-thinking solutions," he added. Danks said clients that succeed are those "asking better, more strategic questions about how their space supports their business." He added: "This isn't just a period of change, it's a real opportunity to rethink how real estate can drive performance, reduce risk and support long-term goals like flexibility, innovation and sustainability." He emphasised that sustainability has become fundamental to competitiveness in the sector. "If you're not taking sustainability seriously, it is actually a licence to operate," Danks said. "If you are not really adjusting your approach to dealing with real estate, to investing with real estate and to occupying real estate, then you're going to be facing some serious challenges in the future." "At SIOR, we take ESG and ESG strategy and sustainability very, very seriously and support our members across Europe in working with their clients on that very important subject," he explained.

Investor sentiment towards European residential markets has turned increasingly positive, according to Hilke Nijmeijer, senior portfolio manager at CBRE Investment Management, speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025. "You can sense there's more market momentum now. There's more positivism, opportunism about the markets," she said. "There is more interest and enthusiasm from investors to actually step into the residential markets, both in more affordable housing and PBSA." Nijmeijer said the improved mood is translating into higher deal flow and stronger confidence across the sector. "That mood is positive. That also means that there's more deal flow coming, and, yes, there's a strong focus there." She noted that the uncertainty affecting broader real estate markets has eased, particularly regarding rental regulation and taxation. "If you specifically look at the residential market, the regulation on rent, on taxation is having a more direct influence," she said. "That's something to navigate through, but that's also stabilising nowadays. And that is not holding back to invest in the residential market, where there's still an attractive risk-return profile to step into." According to Nijmeijer, both geopolitical and regulatory conditions are now more predictable, giving investors greater confidence to re-enter or expand in residential. "So, I think geopolitical, it is more stable now and also on the rental regulation, it's more stable. So, positive green lights for investing in a residential market," she said. She added that demand remains strongest in large Western European cities, where supply shortages continue to support rental growth. "Basically, all cities in Western Europe are of interest. The major cities where there's a huge demand supply imbalance, so the fundamentals for residential are right." CBRE IM is also identifying opportunities in higher-yielding markets. "We have more specific interests nowadays in high-yielding countries like Ireland, Italy, Spain, but also looking at the risk-return profile. So, a wider interest than just those countries."

Brad Gries, head of the Americas at LaSalle Investment Management, said the logistics sector is evolving as similar demand-side trends shape both the European and US markets, albeit for different reasons. Speaking to Real Asset INSIGHT live at Expo Real 2025, Gries said there were “some similarities in terms of how the European market is operating relative to how the Americas markets are operating, but also some unique differences as well." He added: “It was very clear to me that there's an evolution happening across the logistics market, both from an investor perspective as well as from a user-occupier perspective." According to Gries, the main difference between the two regions lies in the rise of defence-related investment in Europe. “The big thing that's different, especially from a user-demand standpoint, is defence spending in Europe and the increase in that over the foreseeable future relative to a more stable market in the Americas,” he said. However, he added that several trends are common to both markets. “Many of the other same trends are happening in terms of advanced manufacturing, battery storage. We have a big chip manufacturing, semiconductor manufacturing in the US that's helping drive demand across various markets.” Turning to the Americas, Gries said market fundamentals are improving. “We're seeing fundamentals improve, supply pipelines have tapered off, demand is stable but a little bit more muted than it was at the peak of the market. So, I think that fundamentals will improve. I expect yields and pricing to remain relatively stable.” He added that more investors are returning to the market. “We have more capital returning into the market, but we've also got a lot more opportunities as sellers start to bring more opportunities to the market. So, I think that will stay relatively balanced, and that assumes the relatively stable long-term interest rates over the foreseeable future,” he said. www.realassetinsight.com www.realassetmedia.com