Real Asset Media Thought Leaders

Life sciences and innovation drive economic growth, Vesa Palander, City of Turku

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."

Delivering sustainability strategies through local engagement: Elín Guðnadóttir, KADECO

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.”

Opportunity to rethink how real estate can drive performance: Paul Danks, SIOR

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.

Strong demand for residential across all major European cities, Hilke Nijmeijer, CBRE IM

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."

Defence, advanced manufacturing, battery storage driving logistics demand: Brad Gries, LaSalle IM

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.

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European Lending landscape is in a unique position: David White, LaSalle Investment Management

Speaking at EXPO REAL 2025, David White, head of LaSalle Real Estate Debt Strategies, Europe at LaSalle Investment Management, said Europe’s lending market is in a unique phase, with renewed demand for debt and more acquisition financing returning to the market.

“The European lending landscape today is in a really unique situation. We spend a lot of time analysing data, we collect a lot of that, and we look at where things are going. Our pipeline has generally been reasonably similar for the last three or four years in terms of gross lending capacity in the market,” he said.

“In terms of trends, we're seeing a lot more acquisition financing coming to market, particularly in the recent months. There was a little bit of a pause towards the beginning of the year, but it's been ticking back up to levels that we haven't seen since 2022. So acquisition financing is a big component of seeing transaction volumes within the market.”

White added that capital availability remains strong but selective. “There’s definitely a lot of demand for debt. There’s a lot of capital coming to market, there are a lot of new players. But at the same time, we’re all trying to figure out where to pick our spots, where we need to be investing.”

He said LaSalle’s approach is rooted in understanding real-estate fundamentals and borrower business plans. “It’s a matter of thinking about what real-estate types we like and also what basis we’re comfortable with in an environment with limited transaction volume. As a house, we plug into our research and strategy business, we plug into our equity colleagues all throughout Europe. So we have a pretty good finger on the pulse in terms of what we like from a real-estate type perspective.

“We’re very actively lending within those sectors. That includes anything from living, hospitality, logistics, data, leisure, etc. But at the same time, we are a lender. So we follow our borrowers and spend time with them, understanding the business plans that they’re executing. And those that we support, we’ll think about what basis we’re comfortable with. We can get a little bit more creative in terms of other property types when we’re doing that analysis.”

He said LaSalle’s debt strategies platform benefits from a broad capability set. “We lend anything from green lending, senior secured lending, whole loans through to mezzanine and even preferred equity. So we can execute on deals, anything from €50 million to €500 million, depending on the transaction.”

White emphasised that LaSalle’s scale and internal expertise are key differentiators. “We have six offices located throughout Europe. We have equity investors, asset managers, and research and strategy. We also have our internal legal, capital markets, and sustainability teams. That collectively really gives us the ability to drive in one direction and deploy capital in a very efficient way, understanding risk, underwriting risk, pricing risk, and getting deals done.”

“We’re able to offer certainty of execution, but also speed and creativity around offering bespoke solutions, which I think is a unique differentiator for us,” he concluded.

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Tailwinds for European logistics bolster investment opportunities, Sally Bruer, Cushman & Wakefield

In an exclusive interview at EXPO REAL 2025, Sally Bruer, head of EMEA logistics & industrial and retail research at Cushman & Wakefield, said Europe’s logistics and manufacturing sectors are poised for renewed investment and development momentum despite near-term economic uncertainty.

“We all agree that there is a lot of uncertainty in the market, particularly around businesses and their ability to be able to make choices and decisions in this challenging environment,” she said. “But we see in the mid-term lots of tailwinds which are coming forward for European logistics and manufacturing which are set to bolster the opportunities for investors and developers.”

Bruer pointed to the return of long-term, conviction-driven capital targeting logistics and industrial assets. “We're seeing a re-emergence of capital types coming back to the market, particularly core capital,” she said. “We're seeing a selective approach to investment but certainly lots of capital having conviction in the sector and of the long-term opportunities within logistics and industrial real estate.”

She emphasised that demand for efficient and sustainable space remains consistent across Europe’s diverse occupier base. “Each business will be different but there are lots of opportunities across different types of sector, across different types of assets,” she said. “No matter what, there will always be a requirement to move product, and it's having the right real estate to be able to capture those opportunities — efficient space, sustainable space, space that allows for flexibility.”

Bruer added that collaboration between investors, developers and occupiers will be essential to capture growth while managing risk. “There are some challenges for investors and developers to be able to capture some of those opportunities,” she said. “It’s working carefully and closely with occupiers in order to be able to find the right real-estate solutions, mitigate risks, but also importantly seize the opportunities.”

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Is Europe a borrowers market for real estate? Duco Mook, CBRE Investment Management

Europe’s real estate financing market has turned “extremely liquid” for prime assets as banks compete aggressively to deploy capital, according to Duco Mook, head of treasury and debt financing, EMEA at CBRE Investment Management.

Speaking live at Expo Real 2025 with Real Asset Media, Mook said sentiment had improved markedly compared with last year’s event. “I’m seeing the market as very positive today, definitely if you compare that to the last year Expo Real,” he said. “If you look now, the real estate finance market is extremely liquid, especially for prime products. I think banks have difficulty to deploy their equity.”

He noted that lenders were “pitching for the same level of transactions” and that “we see quite a lot of price tension for best-in-class products.” Interest-rate stability is underpinning that shift. “Interest rates-wise in Europe we have a normalisation of the interest curve. The ECB is at the end of the rate cut cycle. There might be another rate cut but in principle they’re at the end so that means that the short-term interest rates will stay where they are and we actually have seen a small increase of the long-term interest rates.”

Mook described the current environment as favourable for quality borrowers. “For a prime product, income-producing standing assets in strong locations, it’s a borrower’s market. Banks are fighting for the deal and the offers that ultimately we present as a house to our investment committee to ask approval are really strong offers.”

However, he cautioned that liquidity was uneven across the market. “That’s not representative of the whole market. I think pricing in general is quite scattered. There could even be 100 bips difference between your final offer and the losing banks so it’s for banks also difficult to read the market but for best-in-class product it’s absolutely liquid.”

Flight to quality defines logistics investment, Maximilian von Medem, Union Investment

Investors are increasingly focusing on resilient, energy-efficient and ESG-compliant logistics assets as market uncertainty drives a clear flight to quality, according to Maximilian von Medem, investment management logistics DACH at Union Investment Real Estate GmbH.

Speaking to Real Asset Media at EXPO Real 2025, von Medem said: "Due to current uncertainties in the market, geopolitical disruptions and tariff risks, we see a flight to security, to resilience and to flexibilities. We see a flight to quality. They need assets that are ESG-compliant; they need energy-efficient assets."

He added that the leasing market has stabilised, with speculative development declining — a trend that is improving the value of standing assets with secured leases.

"Certainly, there is a spread between prime and secondary assets right now," he said.

Von Medem noted that core capital is returning to the sector but remains highly selective.

"They are very, very focused on energy capacity, data capacity and ESG compliance," he said. "We hear quite a bit about reduced focus on sustainability, but we don't really see it in the market at all. Our tenants and our investors have a very strong focus on it."

The pricing gap between sustainable and non-sustainable assets is widening, he added, though demand for traditional certification schemes is falling.

"There is a big spread in pricing between sustainable assets and non-sustainable assets," von Medem explained. "On the other hand, where we see a decrease in demand is for the classic labels. We don't look at the labels so much as we look at the CRREM [Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor] path. We look at the EU taxonomy, but not so much on the labels."

C Change Summit brings together real estate leaders to decarbonise

ULI Europe will bring senior real estate executives to Paris this week for the latest C Change Summit as the organisation steps up efforts to scale decarbonisation across the industry.

Speaking to Real Asset Media's Richard Betts, Sophie Chick, vice president for ESG programmes at ULI Europe, said the summit forms part of a wider four-year initiative "to speed up and scale up decarbonisation of real estate across Europe".

She said the annual gathering is intended not just to highlight keynote speakers but to bring people together to take part in workshops that help develop practical solutions for the sector.

"So, working towards these solutions that we're creating through the programme," she said.

One of the main features in Paris will be the launch of the Preserve Tool, developed through the C Change programme over the past year.

Chick described it as "a tool that we've been working on as part of C Change for the last year. And it's designed to quantify transition risk in a consistent way," adding that it is "a really exciting and a very topical tool at the moment, really bringing in that business case and that financial aspect into transition risk and into that ESG world".

Affordable housing will also feature prominently. ULI Europe will present the first outputs from its new C Change for housing programme, including a mapping exercise examining the barriers to decarbonising affordable stock.

Chick said the initiative highlights "what are the main barriers holding back this availability of decarbonised affordable housing? And then what are the intervention areas that we need to take forward to overcome these barriers?"

The agenda will include global and local perspectives. She confirmed that Lord Alok Sharma, chair of the UK Transition Finance Council and former COP26 president, will headline the event.

"He's going to give us that global sustainability overview. I think talk about some of those political challenges that we have at the moment and coming off the back of COP," she said.

Delegates will also hear directly from municipal leadership. Chick said ULI Europe is pleased to be welcoming Paris deputy mayor Lamia El Aaraje to discuss the city's latest climate and planning initiatives.

Chick noted that, despite the political noise around ESG, momentum in the real estate industry remains strong.

"There was some nervousness around it. But what we're seeing from our members is that this is carrying on regardless of the political agenda," she said. "There might be some changing the names of it and talking about it using slightly different language. But this has to happen —particularly in Europe, I think we're really leading in this."

Engagement with the C Change initiative is rising, she added. "If anything, we've seen engagement in the programme in C Change increase over the year, which is really great. And I think it really shows that people know we need to address it. And we're also being reminded of that with our extreme weather that we're seeing around the world on an unfortunately regular basis."

Richard Betts noted that Real Asset Media's audience is increasingly seeking practical support on how to embed sustainability in investment and development strategies. Chick agreed the summit aims to provide precisely that level of actionable insight.