THE TOP AGENCY MANAGERS OF ITALIAN REAL ESTATE - Interview on the Italian Real Estate Committee

Intervista rilasciata su Comitato Italiano Real Estate. 19 Aprile 2020

I TOP AGENCY MANAGER DEL REAL ESTATE ITALIANO: A COLLOQUIO CON VINCENZO CAVALLARO, AGENCY MANAGER

We are pleased to host Dr. in our Observatory. Vincenzo Cavallaro, founder and managing partner of Expertise Re. Vincenzo Cavallaro has created and developed sales networks on behalf of relevant companies in the financial and real estate sector: for BNP Paribas he managed relationships with real estate agents and local banks for the placement of mortgages, finalized to the purchase of real estate; for Intesa Sanpaolo Personal Finance increased the dealer network, aimed at the sale of leasing financing and finalized loans; for Prelios, formerly Pirelli Re, he first developed the franchising of real estate agencies and coordinated the network and subsequently coordinated the sales of real estate disposals in Sicily and Calabria.

In September 2015 he founded Expertise Re, putting the knowledge and skills acquired into play and wanting to become a prominent real estate operator, expert in mediation and consultancy. His twenty years of experience is now put at the service of his collaborators and his customers. Expertise Re's core business consists of income, office, office and shop properties, and auction properties.

Good morning Doctor Cavallaro, can you tell us about your typical day in this phase of the Coronavirus emergency? The typical operations of the real estate agent have stopped due to the coronavirus emergency, it is currently impossible to carry out inspections or meet owners and buyers, landlords and tenants. During our day we answer phone calls/emails and prepare for the resumption of production activities. At this juncture we have decided to strengthen the social aspect and our positioning on the web. We are studying a restyling of our expertisere.it website and are increasing our presence on social channels; Furthermore, we believe in innovation and technological tools, and in this sense we are activating virtual tours, initially for our most prestigious properties, and then slowly for all the others. Overall we are improving our internal processes and protocols for various activities. Last but not least, we are continuing to promote the auction properties for which we have been commissioned.

2019 ended with good signs of market recovery. What impact do you expect this crisis will have on the performance of the real estate market? The coronavirus emergency is an absolutely new fact in the modern world, unprecedented and therefore difficult to make predictions. Nonetheless, hoping for a return to normality in the month of June, the real estate market, in the short term, will, in my opinion, have a significant negative impact: considering the declining turnover of companies in the most disparate sectors, the consequent repercussion on employment, the With the inevitable tightening of credit to businesses and employees in the private sector, a significant drop in demand cannot be expected. All this could lead to a final drop for 2020 of 20-30% in the number of sales and a drop in real estate values of around 10%.

What time do you foresee for the recovery? Companies will need a reasonable time, tailored to the specific sector, to fully recover their operations. The tourism/hospitality sector, for example, will have to wait at least until summer 2021 to reposition itself at 2019 volumes. In this sense, the real estate market, in general, could also return to pre-crisis numbers around March/April 2021.

Can you give us some indication of the commercial opportunities that, according to you, will develop in the domestic market in the coming months. What do you recommend to industry professionals? The market in the coming months will certainly see a drop in values, therefore interesting opportunities could be created for both investors/users and rental companies; the former would purchase at a discount, the latter could renegotiate the existing rents or reposition themselves on other assets. I suggest that professionals in the sector be very cautious with an always attentive eye on cash flow.

We thank you for the time and reflections you have dedicated to us and which we will share with our Associates. We wish you good work.