Real estate destinations around the world: a look ahead to 2024.

The complex market, complicated by increasingly high inflation and geopolitical instability, puts investors in a position of expectation, but also in a position of awareness that the elements of "destabilization" are now structural trends that require strategies and a long-term vision. This was evidenced by the main findings from the Real Estate Summit "Quo Vadis Italia?", organized by DLA Piper. Here are the main findings from the event.

Real estate in Europe

While the real estate market in Europe is experiencing significant volume declines across all different asset classes, industry professionals face a host of challenges that were explored in more detail during the event: although the impact of the pandemic,''seems to have been left behind, today's main concerns are high interest rates and construction costs, persistent geopolitical uncertainties, social tensions caused by migration flows, and rising inflation that is affecting consumers' purchasing power. Asset managers and investors remain in anticipation of a reassessment or lower interest rates.

"Despite the challenges facing the industry, which have inevitably impacted investment volumes and continue to create a climate of expectation among international investors, we had the opportunity at the event to note that interest in our country remains remarkably positive," commented Olaf Schmidt, Head of Department''DLA Piper real estate for Italy. - In fact, all participants expressed interest in investing in Italy next year, in different asset classes: from logistics, the first segment to agree to revaluation, to the hotel industry, driven by tourist flows, from alternative housing such as student and senior housing, linked above all to demographic trends, to new segments such as data centers. "

Five real estate trends through 2024

Although it's impossible to predict with certainty what will happen in 2024, Simon Durkin, head of real estate research and portfolio analytics at BlackRock, analyzed the post-Covid macroeconomic environment to identify some''Fragmentation, digital destabilization and artificial intelligence, and the future of the financial industry.

The most successful real estate segments

The discussion touched on specific market segments where disappointing data were recorded in the first nine months of 2023: Italy, in fact, experienced a significant decline in investment, -58% compared to the same period of the previous year, amounting to 3.9 billion euros.

Housing

In Italy, investment in housing (residential, student and medical housing) unexpectedly rose by 15% to reach the €1.2 billion mark, in significant contrast to overall trends in Europe (-49%). The "build-to-rent" segment offers many opportunities due to the scarcity of land for development. Alternative housing such as student hostels and retirement homes still offer many opportunities.

Offices

In Europe, unlike in the US, companies are increasingly bringing employees 'back to the workplace', although it will probably be impossible to return to working in an office 5 days a week. This suggests that the office segment will soon recover, with a particular focus on the two main