[Lees in Nederlands]

The media and politicians speak with a negative tone about foreign investors in the Netherlands. Why?” we ask ourselves. Why does The Hague not see the importance of these capital flows for our real estate? Do our politicians have any idea who these foreign investors are?

We talked with our members of the HPP-IREIN & Finance Community and were informed about the role and perspective of these foreign investors by the presentations of:

• Jan-Willem Bastijn, Global Capital Markets at Cushman & Wakefield
• Mark Kuijpers, Managing Director at Greystar
• Hans Vermeeren, Director Asset Management at Patrizia

Jan-Willem gave an insight into who the foreign investors are, namely almost all institutional investors who commit themselves for a longer period of time. With their great interest in residential property and interest in investing in the Netherlands, their capital is extremely interesting for our minister’s goals of building 900,000 homes by 2030. In addition, the office sector would not have grown so much in recent decades without foreign investors. So why is the Netherlands an attractive country to invest in? Our good universities, affordability, quality of life, digital infrastructure and financial ecosystem. As a country, we know how to attract and retain talent, resulting in innovation, growth, dynamism and investment. The factor that is currently causing unrest (among foreign investors) is the lack of a politically stable climate. Dutch politics must adopt a different attitude if they want to retain and attract foreign investors. That means a positive tone of voice, clear rules and they must speak with one voice.

Mark Kuijpers and Hans Vermeeren confirmed Jan-Willem’s words and stressed the importance of a stable political climate, reliable government and central direction. Factors that the foreign investor ‘needs’ in order to want to invest and factors that are therefore important to attract capital. The conclusion is that we desperately need it:

Jan-Willem: “The bottom line…. Innovation and investment inflow are needed to enable the Netherlands to cope with local and global problems.”

And besides, does the so-called “foreign” investor even exist? Our capital flows are global and it is ridiculous to think that we as the Netherlands are an exception.

Want to know more about the (foreign) investors in the HPP network?

Read about our HPP-IREIN & Finance Community and see our members.