Corporate real estate trading is a growing area that is in high demand

The sale of corporate real estate in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) generated €25.6 billion in 2022 in more than 700 deals, according to JLL's latest Corporate Real Estate Capital Raising Report.

There are already deals in this direction in Portugal, but it is not yet a "widely accepted option".

"Despite a 14% decline in annual investment worldwide, real estate markets have been able to withstand global economic difficulties. As a result, corporate real estate sales exceeded €25 billion for the fifth consecutive year, representing a 9% increase over the 10-year average," JLL said in a statement.

The UK, Germany and France are still''are the most active markets, accounting for 54% of total transaction value in the region.

Office and industrial are the leading property types, accounting for 60% of the total transaction value in EMEA - industrial and logistics alone generated €9 billion in transactions.

As an example of significant deals in the market, the sale of Booking.com's international headquarters in Amsterdam for €566 million in December was one of the largest deals of 2022. In the same month, UK supermarket chain Morrisons sold and relocated to a new office for £220 million (€253 million).

Transactions in the retail and leisure sector rose 26% to €3.9 billion, with supermarkets''found ways to get capital out to fund debt restructuring and store improvements. In the healthcare sector, deal volume remained stable at €3 billion.

'In 2022, companies faced a variety of headwinds that impacted their growth, increased their costs and caused disruption in some supply chains.

Gonçalo Santos, head of capital markets at JLL,

explains that there is also a trend in Portugal for companies to sell their own real estate, often linked to the opportunity to remain a tenant in transactions known as sale & leaseback. The main motivation for companies is to free up capital to invest in operations or repay debt due to high financing costs. However, it is noted that this is not yet a widely accepted option for Portuguese businesses, which often view their real estate as an integral part of the business, especially in industrial''sector.

"However, we believe that selling one's own real estate will become a strategic option considered by an increasing number of companies in Portugal as, in addition to being a source of recapitalization, it also reduces the costs associated with owning and maintaining real estate," he says.