HomepageIn the press: “The market is starting to thaw”

In the press: “The market is starting to thaw”

In its December issue, the Beste Belegger magazine of VFB (Flemish Federation of Investors) published an interview with Aedifica CEO Stefaan Gielens and CFO Ingrid Daerden. Together they look back on the past years and look ahead to the future.

In the interview, Stefaan and Ingrid elaborate on the various challenges the Group has faced in the past period. They discuss the impact of the pandemic and the subsequent climb in interest rates, which has put pressure on the business model of a number of healthcare operators.

The biggest problems for healthcare operators have been resolved.
They have been able to adjust their prices to reflect higher costs and occupancy has increased.
Stefaan Gielens, CEO

The problems at a number of healthcare operators caused public opinion around healthcare real estate to turn. Stefaan and Ingrid make it clear in the interview that the pendulum has swung too far: if there was a bit too little focus on risks at the peak, there is too much focus on them now.

Interest rates are expected to fall a bit again. Not to earlier levels, but we see the real estate markets slowly thawing.
Ingrid Daerden, CFO

In the interview, they look ahead to future needs in terms of care infrastructure as Europe’s ageing population will soon reach cruising speed and how this may affect the concept of care homes. They also discuss the attractive market in the UK, which is performing best within the portfolio. On the question of how the reduced withholding tax will evolve in the future, they refer to the Belgian legislator’s tax rules.

The Belgian legislator has already changed the tax rules for the umpteenth time. We cannot make decisions based on rules that change every so often, let alone sell healthcare real estate in our best-performing region. That would be irresponsible.

When it comes to the outlook for the next financial year, Stefaan sees favourable signs of a resurgent market:

Interest rates have fallen somewhat and are expected to further decrease. Confidence is gradually returning. And for healthcare real estate, there is the positive evolution in occupancy while the ageing of the population continues.

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