The timing of ULI’s annual Europe Conference in Paris this year could not be better. With Donald Trump newly installed as US president and the UK poised to start Brexit proceedings in March, the two-day event is the first major real estate gathering of 2017 to examine the immediate fallout and long-term impact for the sector.
Over 500 decision-makers from all real estate disciplines will debate the ramifications of these two key events, as well as of other key issues facing the real estate sector such as mass migration. In Europe, migration remains in the spotlight, with cities grappling to find ways to absorb the huge influx of people and to adapt to this and other demographic changes.
Setting the scene, the main conference session will see a nearly all-female panel discuss issues ranging from geopolitics to demographics and mass migration, city competitiveness, city leadership, and capital markets. Besides Robin Niblett (director of Chatham House), the keynote line-up includes Sarah Harper (Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford and director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing) and Gertrud Traud (chief economist and head of research at German bank Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen). The panel will be moderated by Anglo-French TV and radio journalist Bénédicte Paviot.
Another session will examine the impact of mass migration on city competitiveness and housing affordability. Following strong urbanisation and migration flows, cities are evolving as magnets for people to live, work and play and for investors to put their money. As a result, many cities increasingly face the unintended consequences of this development, with affordability of housing being one of the most critical issues for European cities.
The session, with Professor Michael Keith (head of the ESRC Centre on Migration, Policy and Society at the University of Oxford) and James Murray (deputy mayor for housing and residential development for the City of London) as speakers, will explore the potential solutions to make housing more affordable, the impact of migration flows and how affordable housing influences city economic growth.
A third session will address key macroeconomic challenges facing the sector.
Almost 25% of global GDP currently faces negative interest rates, while another 25% faces rates lower than 1%. What is the impact of this low return environment on real estate capital flows, especially considering the lack of core product? How will the growing uncertainty in European real estate markets caused by the spectre of a post-Brexit Britain, as well as upcoming elections in France and Germany, impact real estate markets?
Speakers on this panel, which will be moderated by Jon Zehner (global co-head of Client Capital Group at LaSalle Investment Management) are Nathalie Palladitcheff, CFO at Ivanhoé Cambridge and François Trausch, global CEO of Allianz Real Estate.
As always, the Paris conference will feature a Council Day to exchange ideas and share best practices in specific sectors of the real estate market as well as a Young Leaders Forum for real estate professionals under 35 to gain insights on current industry issues. The conference will also include a tour of leading real estate projects in Paris.
