Didier Balcaen, CEO at Speedwell: “We need the assistance of the authorities […] to make liveable cities.”
During the Residential Panel held at CEDER 2023, moderator Alexandra Smedoiu, Partner at Deloitte Romania invited her fellow panelists to discuss the foreseeable directions in which Romanian cities could develop in the future.
Didier Balcaen shared his opinion that the most desirable type of development was the so-called “transit-oriented development”, which aims to create “15-minute cities”, where all the citizens’ needs can be met within walking distance. He continued by saying: “I think that’s where […] the public authorities are failing […]. I think that cities where mayors think together with private investors to make a better environment, […] will get a competitive advantage. Developers will go there; people will go there.”
Alin Popa, Business Development Director at Crosspoint Real Estate, said that “Romanians have in their DNA carved the ownership of an apartment”, but mentioned that even so, he had seen many clients making a switch to rental apartments in the last 12 months, due to the increase in interest rates. He expressed his hope that the market could slowly make a switch towards rentals.
To this, Didier Balcaen objected that, despite his being “a firm believer in PRS and built-to-rent”, “there is no bank […] prepared to finance such a product in Romania today. […] Unless the banks change their approach and they don’t want 100% guarantees or advanced payments, the product will never get launched in Romania.”
According to Alex Skouras, Founding Member & Managing Partner of Alesonor, what developers need to do is show investors that the product has real end users and really fits with the needs of the community: “When the community is there of end users, then indeed the investors are willing to come, acquire apartments, because those apartments, they would be easily leased”.
To conclude the subject, Cosmin Savu-Cristescu, Managing Director of Redport Capital, said that in his opinion, “PRS, for most developers that think long term, has become a hot issue”. He further stated that although the requirements of a built-to-rent project are different, with “a certain mix of things that you need to have in the building”, the idea is very promising and “would deserve a very large discussion with many more actors involved, in a potential game-changing style of doing business in residential.”
