London International Financial Cooperation Council Held
The sovereign wealth fund Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) hosted an event to forecast this year's European real estate market, inviting Korean institutional investors that have entered the UK and local real estate investment experts.
Korea Investment Corporation announced on the 26th that its London office hosted the 35th meeting of the London International Financial Cooperation Council on the 25th (local time).
Sebastiano Ferrante, Head of European Real Estate at the global asset management firm PGIM, who delivered the keynote presentation, assessed that the European real estate market has entered a recovery phase, while advising that a selective approach by asset type is necessary.
Ferrante said, "After undergoing an adjustment since 2022, prices of major European real estate assets have recently entered a recovery phase," adding, "This year, the volume of European real estate transactions is expected to increase by about 70% year-on-year and expand to more than 100 billion euros."
However, he added, "As differentiation by region and sector becomes more pronounced, a selective approach to assets will determine performance," and predicted, "Centered on major European cities, rents are expected to continue rising in the residential sector, where supply shortages have accumulated, and in urban industrial facilities near city centers, where supply-demand imbalances are severe."
He also noted, "As banks reduce their participation in development financing for commercial real estate, demand for non-bank lending is expanding," and said, "New investment opportunities may also emerge in the real estate lending market."
PGIM is the global asset management business of Prudential Financial, Inc., and its assets under management (AUM) amounted to about 1.5 trillion dollars as of the end of last year.
Lee Geon-ung, Head of the London Office at Korea Investment Corporation, who oversaw the event, said, "Together with a global asset management firm, this served as an opportunity to review this year's European real estate market and investment direction, and to strengthen the foundation for cooperation among institutional investors."
About 30 representatives from Korean government and public investment institutions, as well as private financial companies in securities, banking, and insurance, attended the event.
Meanwhile, Korea Investment Corporation operates overseas branches and offices in global financial hubs, including New York and San Francisco in the United States, London in the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Mumbai in India.
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