Real Asset Media Thought Leaders

Eagle Real Estate plans to turn its first German acquisition into senior housing with on-site care as it looks for more properties to redevelop in a market where demand for care accommodation outstrips supply.

Speaking to Real Asset INSIGHT at EXPO Real 2026, Aart de Jong, co-founder and managing partner of Eagle Real Estate, said the Dutch developer would draw on its experience in the Netherlands to put residents’ quality of life at the centre of the project in Essen.

“What we discovered is that the Dutch market is more developed than the German market,” he said, referring to the emphasis Dutch facilities place on residents’ wellbeing.

Eagle plans to renovate the existing building at Bürgerpark with project partner Vastbouw to create 156 senior living units. De Jong said Eagle would lease part of the building to a care provider and let the apartments directly to residents, who could receive care from that provider.

“Of course, we do the real estate and we work closely together with care companies that have the same values,” he said.

On the German market, De Jong added that “there’s also a lack of housing there for facilities, so we’re looking for more”.

He expects robots to take on routine tasks such as giving residents medication and sees Eagle’s role as creating places where residents can build relationships. He believes connections between people “will be more and more important than giving someone the pill or medicine”.

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Demand for high-quality offices and competition for industrial space are reshaping commercial property markets across the globe, according to David Lockwood, chief executive officer of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR).

SIOR’s 4,100 members span 725 cities in 52 countries, giving the organisation a broad perspective on market conditions. Lockwood said the pace of change was exceptional across both office and industrial property.

“And no matter whether it's office space or industrial space, we're in an evolution of the market like we've never seen occurring so rapidly.”

Companies are demanding very high-quality office space in many markets, while data centres, logistics businesses and manufacturers are competing for industrial space.

“There is a race for quality space across the globe.”

However, the strength of demand and the pace of recovery vary between locations. Some markets are performing strongly, while others are still recovering.

“Not all markets are as good as some markets, but there are some markets that are doing extremely well, and then there are some markets that are still in a recovery phase.”

Financing costs remain a challenge despite continued investor appetite for commercial property. Lockwood warned that higher interest rates could restrain investment for a time.

“Commercial real estate is still a very highly sought after investment, but we have challenges with the cost of funds, the lending rates across the globe, and the rise in interest rates may hinder that investment for a period of time.”

Despite those financing pressures, Lockwood maintained that commercial real estate remained a solid choice for investors.

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AI can help real estate businesses bring fragmented information together and make more effective decisions, said Srikanth Ramachandra, founder and chief executive officer of NTrust Infotech.

Speaking to Real Asset Media at the International Investors Lounge at EXPO Real 2026, Ramachandra highlighted the difficulties businesses face when data and documents are scattered across different sources.

“AI is doing a lot of things for the real estate industry, which wasn't very easy before.”

He described the scale of the problem: “The biggest problem that we hear everywhere, especially in Europe now is the fragmentation of data and documents. That has not enabled people to see everything together to make effective decisions.”

AI could help businesses overcome this barrier, he said.

“You'll be able to bring in data that are fragmented in different places seamlessly and ask questions and get them answered in a simple fashion without waiting for reporting cycles to come.”

Ramachandra also suggested that AI could accelerate technology adoption in a real estate industry that has been slower to embrace it.

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European real estate lenders still have liquidity and are willing to offer competitive financing for prime assets, despite persistent inflation and higher interest rates, according to Duco Mook, head of treasury and debt financing EMEA at CBRE Investment Management.

Speaking to Real Asset Insight at EXPO Real 2026, Mook said: "The mood changed a little bit over the summer with sticky inflation and higher interest rates. But I think overall the liquidity is still there."

"The lenders continue to serve us. They have the liquidity. For the prime product, it's actually still a borrower's market with very competitive pricing although obviously the all-in cost of that has absolutely increased with higher base rates which probably is here to stay for a bit of a longer term."

"I definitely see opportunities to be more creative and think along with the lenders either for shorter term tenors, either be more flexible on the hedging structures," he said.

Banks were also showing greater flexibility over interest coverage ratio (ICR) covenants, giving borrowers additional headroom to accommodate higher debt servicing costs. Mook said close cooperation between borrowers and lenders could help achieve better financing outcomes.

Turning to investment opportunities, he said: "The hotspots, I would say ultimately it's really about the enhanced business plan. So where can we as an asset manager add value?"

"There could be a bit of leasing risk, there could be a bit of construction risk as well. But overall you want to add value in the long run and we do that with the very strong asset management capabilities that we have on the ground."

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Mispricing of high-quality offices in secondary German locations is creating investment opportunities, according to Jan Isaakson, head of capital markets at Newmark.

Speaking at the International Investors Lounge at EXPO Real 2026, Isaakson identified a gap between investors’ assumptions about future office demand and the prospects for buildings outside central business districts.

“If I would buy an asset, the most interesting part to me is the mispricing in offices and certain parts of the area, especially in B location,” said Isaakson.

The market had already experienced the impact of working from home, he argued. Vacancy across Germany’s leading cities stood at 9% and appeared to be stabilising.

Attention had now shifted to AI and its potential effect on office requirements. However, even in a hypothetical scenario in which vacancy rose to 20%, most space would remain occupied.

“So, even if we would double that to 20%, this means that actually 80% of offices are still let, right?”

Central business districts could account for only part of that occupied space, leaving a substantial role for good-quality buildings elsewhere.

"To me, yes, roughly 25% to 30% is in CBD locations, I get that. But besides that, it means that more than half of the rest is still good assets which will be let."

For investors, the opportunity lay in identifying buildings whose prices gave insufficient value to their potential to be re-let or used again once current leases ended.

“And to me, this is actually the point most of the capital markets world is not getting because currently they are pricing it as just a discounted cash flow and with no re-usage.”

Isaakson challenged the assumption that location alone would determine a building’s longer-term usefulness.

“I don't think that an A asset, a quality asset in a B location will not have any usage in five or ten years from now. I completely disagree.”

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Iceland's K64 Development Programme, the masterplan for the area around Keflavík International Airport, ties into the government's new industrial strategy. That is the view of Elín Guðnadóttir, programme director at KADECO, the state-owned company leading the scheme.

Speaking to REAL FDI at EXPO Real 2026, Guðnadóttir said the programme uses existing infrastructure to grow the local and national economy. It draws on the airport’s connections to more than 90 direct destinations, a deep-sea harbour and links to universities and research centres in the capital area.

“The Icelandic government has now launched an industrial strategy focusing on technology, data centres and high skilled jobs and value creation,” she said.

Guðnadóttir said the strategy aligned with K64’s work.

“This is all part of enhancing the Icelandic economy and for us enhancing the community and the economy around the Keflavík International Airport, which is the K64 masterplan.”

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Europe offers an exceptionally strong buying opportunity for logistics property investors, with Germany a particular focus, according to Balázs Lados, managing director and European fund director at Realterm.

Speaking to Real Asset INSIGHT at EXPO Real 2026, Lados highlighted the company’s appetite for investment in specialist assets serving transport and logistics operators.

“We see the European market as an exceptionally strong buying opportunity at the moment,” said Lados.

Realterm’s strategy centres on a specialist segment of the logistics investment market.

“Very high conviction in Germany, especially. And we focus on industrial outdoor storage investment opportunities and also truck terminals, or we also call them cross-docs.”

Lados said logistics sector fundamentals remained strong, with e-commerce continuing to support underlying demand.

“It plateaued a little bit during COVID, but now we see increased interest from Amazon, domestic groups, and also Chinese e-commerce players alike," he said.

That outlook is shaping the company’s investment ambitions.

“We're going to aim to deploy a lot of capital into Europe, and we are continuously fundraising for our subsequent and current existing vehicles.”

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Rising diesel prices are likely to widen the rental gap between central and peripheral European logistics locations as distributors seek to minimise fuel costs, according to Daniel Mahoney, Europe head of strategy and research at LaSalle Investment Management.

Speaking to Real Asset INSIGHT from the International Investors Lounge at EXPO Real 2026, Mahoney outlined findings from the investment manager’s Paths of Distribution research for 2026, which assesses 146,000 micro-locations across Europe.

“We think the locations where distributors are going to minimise their energy costs are going to become more valuable," he said. "That's the key insight from this report.”

The latest research adds supply analysis to its assessment of demand. LaSalle has trained a neural network to classify aerial images and estimate supply across European locations.

Mahoney said diesel prices had risen nearly 50% since the start of the year, providing a test of how higher transport costs affect the relative appeal of different locations.

“Location is a key part of sustainability as well so being in these more central locations means burning less fuel.”

He also identified the highest-scoring location in LaSalle’s analysis.

“So the best hexagon of those 146,000 we score is just east of Paris in Val-de-Marne where three autoroutes come together between two major airports. That's the spot.”

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Capital earmarked for equity investment is set to shift towards private debt and debt funds as real estate loans approach maturity, according to Guillaume Turcas, managing partner at Faro Capital Partners.

Speaking to Real Asset INSIGHT from the International Investors Lounge at EXPO Real 2026, Turcas said: “The good thing is the debt market is still pretty strong, thanks to obviously the major European banks that are still active in the real estate sector.”

Alternative lenders are supporting value-add transactions, while private debt is helping to fill financing gaps.

"I think what we will be seeing in the coming quarters is that more and more money that was supposed to be deployed in equity will be deployed in debt strategies, namely private debt but also debt funds, as a lot of financing is coming to an end."

Beyond refinancing, Turcas also highlighted the funding needs of new transactions.

“And obviously for the new deals, when it's not completely vanilla, you will need to find some alternative money to help with that.”

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Partnerships with German and other European companies can help developers in Abu Dhabi deliver more efficient and sustainable projects, according to Haytham Haidar, chief executive officer of LEAD Development, the Abu Dhabi-based property developer.

Speaking to Real Asset Media live from EXPO Real, Haidar highlighted opportunities for German businesses to contribute across design, engineering, construction and manufacturing.

“The reason we are here really as part of this overall Abu Dhabi ecosystem — as a developer — is to engage our German colleagues and peers in the work we do in Abu Dhabi and the opportunity that's provided in Abu Dhabi and the expertise we seek from our potential German partners and colleagues in the industry, whether really on the design or the engineering, the construction or the manufacturing side.”

Haidar encouraged potential partners to visit Abu Dhabi and discuss opportunities with developers and government representatives. He said development priorities extended beyond delivery to encompass commercial performance, the experience of occupiers and the long-term operation of buildings.

“When we look at real estate development, we look at three things really. The economics, the user experience, and we look at how well those are built and being operated long after they are delivered.”

He said European partners could help LEAD Development meet those priorities.

“What we seek from our potential partners in Europe, in Germany, is that design, that engineering, and that technology expertise, which we believe will go a long way in delivering our product in a more efficient, more sustainable manner.”

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