MPC Properties was already a market leader more than 10 years ago, when its portfolio included significantly fewer assets, and it’s also a leader today, when it has six retail centres and six premium office buildings in its portfolio. Market leader is not only about size and dominance, but it is more about how relevant the products are for the customers
Belgrade, along with Serbia as a whole, is becoming an increasingly serious destination for investments in various types of real estate, while the actual market is slowly profiling itself. MPC Properties’ strategy, according to the company itself, has complete clarity.
Judging by your portfolio, we can conclude that MPC Properties will be a key player when it comes to investment and development for a long time to come. What will your next investment be?
Our portfolio gives us strength and strategic positioning in the market, but above all, our expertise and know-how, makes difference. We know why we are investing.
We make long-term projections and invest more in fields of sustainable construction of our assets than the competition, our assets have the highest LEED and BREAM certificates. We also have strategic partnerships with all global brands, but above all we are very well experienced with the dynamics of this market. This fact is also confirmed by the full leasing of the business buildings UŠĆE Tower Two and Navigator Business Centre 2, as well as the BEO shopping centre, which opened in 2020, at the time of the pandemic. We’ve strengthened our portfolio with the purchase of Delta City, and in the coming period we’ll focus on additionally strengthening our office portfolio in the segment of A Class buildings in prime Belgrade locations.
There has always been a real estate industry rule that these are the only secure investments? Is that still the case?
When it comes to real estate industry, investing in residential is the first association for secure investment. These are relatively stable investments that are exposed to less risk, but also lower returns. However, every investment implies a certain risk.
Our portfolio thus gives us strength and stability, while our knowhow and expertise confirm that we know how to choose the right project, as we know when and why we invest
More complex investments, such as retail centres and office buildings, are properties that do imply a higher risk, but for return bring significantly higher returns. The crucial factor of success, in this case, is industry knowhow, a network of partners and tenants, familiarity with financial trends and portfolio strength.
In your opinion, what would represent the best investment at the moment and has the growth of the online market influenced a different framework?
The pandemic was an ideal opportunity to demonstrate the strength of the online market, but the turnaround has not happened. We’ve just gained a more complex market, where the online domain is still in the consolidation phase, but the offline market remains a priority and continues to have great potential for further development. However, the offline market is also experiencing a transformation of its own, which is moving in the direction of creating more content-rich shopping destinations and improving the user experience. The consumer is today at the heart of every business more than ever before, and those who best respond to the new needs of consumers, are the ones that can expect to endure.
Does the local market have enough clients with the payment power to keep pace with the high leasing prices that seem to be set to continue rising?
MPC invests in high-quality office buildings, class A+, which address the needs of major international companies that think on long-term basis and can recognise the importance of higher initial investments and the advantages that brings to their employees and their actual business.
Given that we’re market pioneers in the retail segment, we select shopping destinations that are in the city’s busiest places and possess all the essential infrastructure for brand development. Such an approach has enabled us to gain the reputation we have today as the first choice on the market.