CBRE serves a diverse range of clients with an integrated suite of services, including facilities, transaction, and project management; property management; investment management; appraisal and valuation; property leasing; strategic consulting; property sales; mortgage services and development services. The guiding principle at CBRE is to provide strategic solutions that make real estate holdings more productive and economically efficient for its clients across all service lines.
Q. What are the key offerings of CBRE to its customers and objectives?
CBRE aims to realise the potential of its clients, professionals, and partners by building the real estate solutions of the future. With diverse market knowledge and expertise, superior data and proprietary technology, and a multi-dimensional perspective, CBRE assists clients to use real estate to transform their business and achieve their goals.
Here are some of the key offerings of CBRE:
• Invest, Finance & Value - Specialized advice to help clients find good investment opportunities
• Plan, Lease & Occupy - Consulting and transaction services by experts and through the use of technology to maximise returns. Aims to empower occupiers and owners to help anticipate opportunities and execute successful real estate strategies that drive results.
• Design & Build - Helps deliver projects from concept to completion by employing cost-efficient, industryleading processes to optimise projects, minimise risks and create value.
• Manage Properties & Portfolios - Helps manage every aspect of the real estate, from accounting and operations to sustainability and energy consumption. With scale, supply chain expertise, and innovative technology, CBRE’s experts help reduce costs, increase efficiencies and create memorable on-site experiences.
• Transform Business Outcomes - Consultancy and expert guidance to manage client’s businesses and generate expected outcomes.
• Manage Real Assets Investments - Helps deliver sustainable investment solutions across real assets categories, geographies, risk profiles, and execution formats
Q. What advice would you give to someone starting out in real estate today?
The opportunities in the real estate sector are immense. The real estate sector has been adapting in real-time to numerous changes caused by policy reforms, the entry of foreign funds, varying homebuyer demands, the emergence of next-gen developers, and a variety of other factors.
Here are some tips for people starting in real estate -
• Local insights - Real estate is a broad industry but highly localised. The trends in one micro-market do not reflect in another and vice versa. As a result, professionals must interact with many stakeholders like local people, real estate consultants, bankers etc. and then learn to analyse the local market model.
• Understanding RERA - The Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) has been operational since 2017 to bring about transparency in the real estate sector and empower homebuyers by bridging the knowledge asymmetry between homebuyers and developers. Everyone in the real estate sector must be well versed with the laws laid down by RERA.
• Understanding the licences and registrations - Real estate and construction businesses require multiple licences, and basic knowledge about each is necessary. One must build liaison with local authorities for a deeper insight, including on-ground situations and challenges since multiple agencies at the state level/local bodies are involved in granting permissions and licences.
• Understanding market dynamics of real estate A fundamental understanding of the real estate market including allied industries, is important. One must master the latest market trends and focus their business on these trends to harness the best opportunities.
Q. How do you see technology shaping the business of real estate in the future?
The growing synergies between various technologies and real estate have accelerated. The key to this transformation is a large amount of diverse data sets in addition to the ‘Big Data’ aggregated at a hyperpersonal level. Over the last few years, integrating new technologies has propelled productivity, enhanced stability, and ensured business continuity. The adoption of PropTech was further accelerated amid COVID-19 across commercial, residential, retail, and construction segments. These advancements are expected to have a long-term and far-reaching impact on the industry. Six disruptive technologies that are reshaping businesses worldwide and significantly impacting real estate are Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)/ Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR) and Blockchain. These technologies are remodelling real estate and assessing the opportunities they create to improve the experience of all stakeholders, viz., developers, investors, occupiers, and employees. While Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Virtual Reality (VR) solutions are enabling real-time site management, technologies such as AI and Augmented Reality (AR) could soon stimulate buyer/ investor interest and reduce timeline complexities. The sector is expected to balance physical property visits and virtual visits, aided by implementations such as 3D virtual experiences. Implementations such as IoT are improving work environments – analyzing daily employee preferences (seating, booking meeting rooms) and dynamically updating through mobile devices. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can help improve health and safety at work – such as using autonomous cleaning robots and self-cleaning solutions. Using AR/VR solutions is already improving employee collaboration, tailoring experiences depending on business/team needs. The pandemic has led developers to look at innovative solutions to attract a new generation of homebuyers. Tech-enabled gated communities and residential properties have witnessed a surge owing to the demand for exclusive services and offerings.
Q. Where do you see the most growth opportunities in the future?
India has been on a progressive path of growth for several years, and so has the real estate industry along with it. The implementation of focused policy reforms and strategic infrastructure initiatives by the state/ central government has resulted in consumer preference leaning towards suburbs / non metro cities. As a result, tier II cities are gaining traction owing to their growing economic significance, infrastructure development and improved connectivity. This is evidenced by the entry and expansion of flex operators and the increasing footprint of industrial establishments. The various business clusters across tier-II cities now offer a mix of non-SEZ and SEZ establishments. Most tier II cities have also recorded a growing presence of industrial hubs and malls. Retailers and mall developers are looking to leverage the buying power of the increasing populace in these cities. Growing internet usage has whetted the appetite for quality products in these areas, thus giving a fillip to e-commerce too. There is also rising investor interest over recent years, with various plans announced by domestic and global firms to establish their footprint in these markets. As we move forward, tier II cities are poised to be the new growth vectors in India in the coming years - driven by their progress in the real estate landscape, work environment, quality of life, and sustainability. Moreover, these cities have large talent bases, taking offices closer to talent holds the potential to be alternative centers of growth, fueling innovation and growth for office occupiers. Hence, it is increasingly critical for these cities to sustain the current pace of infrastructure development and strengthen skill development.
Q. What challenges do you foresee in the future for your organization and for the Real Estate industry?
The outlook for growth of the Indian economy has been moderated owing to tightening monetary conditions and recessionary global headwinds, however, strong macro fundamentals will ensure that India is on a growth trajectory, and we have reasons to remain optimistic due to the recovery of services consumption, revival of domestic demand and India’s continued attraction as a resilient and cost-effective investment destination among global businesses. We believe the growth dynamic may be temporarily affected, but with strong fundamentals, it will sustain any major impact.
Q. What are the new supply outstripping office demand in 2022-23?
Compared to 9-Months 2021, the office sector witnessed a remarkable recovery in leasing activity in 9M 2022 with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, a gradual acceleration of return to the office (RTO), expansion by occupiers, and the release of post-pandemic pent-up demand. Supply in 9M 2022 grew by 4% YoY to reach 35.6 million sq. ft. The supply pipeline remains robust as high quality, investment grade supply by leading developers and institutional owners in prime locations would continue to draw flight to quality space take up in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR are anticipated to continue to dominate supply in the coming quarters. Non-SEZ buildings would drive the development completions, while the share of SEZ supply is likely to decline going forward. Moreover, a strong leasing performance in 2022 is likely to cause the vacancy rate to dip marginally or remain range bound across cities by the end of the year
