“How tall is the highest building in Grums? ” a colleague asks me. I start to think about it and soon I realize that the tallest building in Grums is the boiler at the paper factory. Grums, located in the middle of Sweden, 350 kilometers from...

When I was asked to write a blog post about the recent development of Baltic property market, I suddenly faced a dilemma of defining the right mood for it. Expectations are definitely very positive. Any results? No, not yet. International investors...

World economy is at an uncertain place, with sluggish economic recovery and growing protectionism. According to Guido Mantega, Brazil's Finance Minister, there is an international currency war going on. Mantega's statement is based on the exchange...

Hey, we all make mistakes. But when it comes to leasing office space for your business, mistakes equal money – big money. Here is the insider’s take on how to avoid making them. 1. Planning. Believe it or not, many tenants aren’t clear on what...

During the next two years there will be a huge difference in completion of office properties in Oslo and Baerum. In 2011, only 47 000 sqm is estimated to be completed, of which 24 000 sqm is located in the coming CBD area Bjørvika (the Visma...

In recent years several Finnish blue-chip companies have unloaded their balance sheets by selling real estate and concurrently leased those back with long-term agreements. While there may have been different rationales behind these arrangements,...

Since the transaction market changed for the better in terms of transaction volume in the end of 2009 we have had the pleasure to discuss investment cases with more optimistic investors and gradually more cooperative banks. As expected we have...

The luxury property market usually starts with around EUR 2300-2500/m2 of residential property, and thus is only available to the most affluent part of the Lithuanian population. The properties considered as luxury are also highly sensitive to the...

Soon I have been at the French Riviera for 24 hours; it feels like luxury to get the first taste of spring. I´m not here on my own; over 17 000 persons from 81 countries are participating in MIPIM, the world´s premier real estate event for...

My second day at MIPIM has now gone by and it has been an eventful day from early morning until late evening. It is my first visit to this major real estate event and as a rookie everything seems new and challenging but at the same time fun and...

A clear trend can now be seen in the Nordic property markets. As the Nordic investors’ self-confidence is strengthened, the focus starts shifting away from safe, virtually risk-free low-yielding residential properties. Office and retail properties...

Green certificates have been talked about both in the media and in hallway conversations. Interest in this relatively new subject has reached the Finnish real estate business. On the whole this means that the players are looking at the movement and...

The Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway has reviewed the practise of property valuation in some listed Norwegian real estate companies. Finanstilsynet is, amongst other issues, responsible for surveying the companies reporting according to...

I often think back to the period just before the financial turmoil that struck the property market in 2008. An ordinary day at the office often included a couple of unannounced visits by foreign investors, eager to express their will to invest in...

Get to work at 8 o’clock and go through a pitch with Anders which is to be presented later during the morning. Dan, who will be responsible for the pitch, arrives at the office at 9 o'clock, after final negotiations on "Project Bond" which have...

Both retail and office investment activity in Europe and also in Finland has been mainly focused on core assets and core markets during recent years.  In countries like Germany, UK and also in Sweden, we have seen clear shift from core products...

The first so defined “modern office building” in Vilnius’ CBD was opened in 1999 and was bravely called an A class office building. In the following years the bigger part of the now existing modern office space in the city’s CBD area was built. Some...

Newsec has developed a new method – Newsec Workplace Index - to measure how well the premises support a business and how they respond to a company’s values and leadership culture. It measures the current situation, compares it to best practices, the...

When you work on transactions, you are surrounded of high performing individuals often in a highly stressful environment. You always want to deliver solutions and services of highest quality, do things better or in a more effective way; pitches,...

Right now we can observe an interesting process happening with shopping centers in the Baltics; they actively search for an identity in order to be unique and attractive to customers and potential new tenants. We should list the following components...

Green Property Management involves reconsidering the application of traditional commercial practices at every stage of the property management process. A concept still being shaped As part of best practice in the industry Green Property...

Baltics as a Single Investment Market The key characteristics of investments are usually defined as the relationship between the risk of the investment and the expected return. The lower risk is thus associated with lower returns and vice versa....

This fall, we will update Newsec’s graphic profile. This means that 550 employees from Norway to Lithuania will have business cards that look exactly the same and that clients will never be confused about what Newsec do and how we look – no matter...

It seems that our forecast for 2011 major transaction volume in Finland is a bit too optimistic. We estimated that the volume would be around 3 b€. However the figure for the first six months is only 0, 8 b€, though there is still another six months...

The activity in the Norwegian transaction market has increased significantly in the 2nd quarter compared to the beginning of the year. As expected, the activity has been especially strong in the very last weeks of June. We have worked on a several...

The Newsec blog will now take a summer break, and will be back in August!

I have been asked several times why Newsec does not concentrate its resources to few services instead of many. As The Full Service Property House, Newsec offers many advantages compared to one service or few services providers. Advantages for our...

As of today, this website looks slightly different from before, as Newsec has an updated graphic profile. Amongst Newsec’s co-workers, the new graphic identity is launched under the slogan “Same same but different”. Because really, not much has...

Green Property Management involves reconsidering the application of traditional commercial practices at every stage of the property management process. As part of best practice in the industry Green Property Management is still in its infancy –...

The latest edition of Newsec’s comprehensive market report – “Newsec Property Update Autumn 2011” – has now been published. The report covers the Nordic and Baltic real estate markets and contains unique material. You can download the complete...

The Estonian retail segment has suffered the least during crisis years. Although decreased construction prices encouraged the developers to start new projects during the years of downturn, take-up was surprisingly active at that period. As a result,...

In the beginning of 2011 the Norwegian property market was very optimistic and many predicted that the transaction volume of 2010 - just under NOK 40 billion - would be surpassed. The most optimistic still predicts that the volume for 2011 will...

In uncertain times such as these, demands for return on investments increases. Historically, international investors have fled from small currencies such as the Norwegian and placed the money in safe havens like U. S. Treasury bonds. This time the...

Everyone is talking about taking lessons from the recession in Baltics on 2009-2010. Plenty of articles have already been issued with analysis and recommendations; “how to improve property performance in all aspects”, “how to handle relations with...

The Swedish economy continues to show growth even if it has shifted down somewhat. After a turbulent summer with an increased political risk premium due to escalating debt concerns in the euro area, U. S debt-ceiling crisis and a downgrade of U. S....

During the period that Lithuania has been an independent country, about twenty industrial and logistics parks have been completed or are under development. The primary goal of these parks have been to attract green-field investments to the...

The property market is a mirror image of the overall economy. Cash flow (rents and vacancies) are dependent on factors such as employment, demographics and consumption, while yields are affected by real interest rate, credit access and investor risk...

The fall is the time for budgeting, forecasting the future, giving the “truth” about the next years or quartiles situation. Prophesies and budgets all work with the same simple laws as all reporting: simplicity, speed and getting an idea of the...

Standing on a piece of land and looking at an obsolete factory, picturing a shopping center in its place, might be difficult for most people. But it’s not if you’re working at Newsec. Newsec Finland’s Leasing & Retail team has had an enticing...

At Newsec, we position ourselves as ”The Full Service Property House”. After all, we are the leading strategic advisor in Northern Europe who offer all the services needed in a property allocation – from property strategy to transaction, from asset...

Most people feel that shopping malls and major retail centers are too alike, all with the same stores. And in times like these, with low growth, the high street brands tend to advance their positions and take market shares. So why is it that so few...

The darkness is spreading across Europe and the moment of truth is approaching. The development has gone so far that, at the time of writing (December 1), it has become increasingly clear that unless the European leaders come up with a reasonable...

Roughly 6.7 million people live in the three Baltic states, with over 175, 000 square kilometers of territory. In terms of size the region is comparable to Denmark, Finland, Slovakia or Switzerland. Interestingly enough, the Baltics historically...

Previous years’ economic recovery was in many ways an illusion and the world economy stands before an extended period of slow growth as businesses, households and governments consolidate their balance sheets. Politicians on both sides of the...