Fall 2020 : Real estate keeps on track

september 2020

In our last report, written during the lock-down1, we said that the current crisis would be composed of three phases: rent collection during lockdown; the economic recession; and lastly the longer term impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the real estate sector.

The general consensus is that French real estate investment companies (SCPIs) have handled the first phase pretty well, with fund managers posting average rent collection rates of 80 to 90%. Dividends paid in the first half of 2020 were on average 90% of those paid in H1 2019, with a portion of rents sometimes set aside as a reserve for future payments.

We are now entering the second phase of the crisis, i.e. its economic impact, with soaring unemployment and the risk of a cascade of business closures. One decisive factor will be whether or not welfare compensations will be maintained, as was the French government’s subsidised partial unemployment scheme, which was recently extended for another 12 months.

How can savings be redeployed and what role can real estate play if crisis constraints need to be
maintained for an extended period, even if less severe?

Read the note

The team

Daniel While
Henry-Aurélien Natter Head of Research

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