With your extensive Polish real estate market experience, how would you assess its current state? And how would you summarise the last few years and decades?
Anna Duchnowska, managing director and head of CEE investment at Invesco Real Estate: The last few years in the commercial real estate market have been extremely dynamic, shaped by numerous factors – from the pandemic and the outbreak of war in Ukraine to the rampant inflation, soaring construction costs, and the interest rate hikes. Investing in commercial property has become significantly more demanding. Ten years ago, such investment often came down to simply purchasing an office building or shopping centre, applying high leverage with cheap capital, and waiting for the yield compression. But those days are now gone. Today, investment decisions require multidimensional knowledge, close observation of trends, continuous risk monitoring, and carefully considered asset management strategies.
Do you have a favourite building on the Polish or even global market? And why that particular one?
All the buildings that Invesco holds in its portfolio in the region are my favourites – naturally, I feel a strong connection to them. Certainly, buildings like Q22 and Plac Unii in Warsaw are among our flagship investments, as is the Sheraton Hotel in Kraków, and the recently acquired CloudOne in Gdańsk. But I’m most fond of those assets where we’ve already successfully implemented our intended investment strategy and sold the property, delivering solid returns to our investors. These outcomes showcase the attractiveness of our region and the capabilities of the entire Invesco Real Estate team in Poland and across Europe. At our core, we are an investment manager with high standards – and that is precisely why investors place their trust in us.
Which project do you recall as the most challenging but also the most inspiring?
Each of our projects demands full commitment. In today’s fast-moving investment environment, we must remain open to strategic changes, repositioning, and additional capital expenditure in order to unlock the property’s full potential. Equally important is having a feel for the right time to exit and being able to make that call when the asset is ready. We prefer to deliver on our pre-defined business plan and exit an investment while leaving a degree of potential for the next buyer. That’s how we have built our track record, which in turn enables us to attract further capital for investment. The entire investment cycle is always a source of great inspiration.
At ‘EurobuildCEE’, we are celebrating the publication of our 300th issue. Our professional paths have crossed many times – are there any moments from our collaborations that particularly stand out in your memory?
Eurobuild is undoubtedly a market leader when it comes to real estate information in our region. Both your online portal and print magazines are must-reads for many of us – myself included. And, of course, there are the prestigious Eurobuild Awards, which recognise the best companies, projects and industry figures, which are outstanding events in their own right – not to mention fantastic opportunities to meet and network with hundreds of people. Naturally, the most recent Eurobuild Awards were especially meaningful for me, as I was honoured with the Personality of the Year award! Events like that give me an extra boost of energy to keep contributing to the development of our domestic capital market.
