Eric Rey de Castro, Country Manager for Peru of the real estate consultancy Colliers Internacional, is our guest as Professional of the Month in the current edition of the magazine GERENCIA DE EDIFICIOS.
By Santiago Jaramillo Hincapié
Our Professional of the Month is an entrepreneur with deep knowledge of the real estate business and a very clear vision of the industry and its trends. Eric Rey de Castro, our guest, is Country Manager for Peru of the real estate consultancy Colliers Internacional, he stands out for being a connoisseur and meticulous analyst of the fundamentals of the real estate industry.
Also noteworthy is his experience in commercial real estate, in addition to having skills in strategic planning, location location and negotiation. He has more than 20 years of professional experience and 15 as CEO of the sector.
He also stands out in his resume for being President of the Larraín Vial Real Estate Investment Fund - Colliers (FIBRA), President of the Peruvian Chapter of the Green Building Council (Peru GBC), Delegate of the Peruvian Chapter of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), Local Delegate of RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) and Member of the Board of Directors of Colliers Latin America, Penta Realty Group, Parque El Golf and several other companies in the sector.
Eric has among his studies a Bachelor of Business Administration from the Universidad del Pacífico (Lima, Peru), and is also a Systems Engineer at IBM Corporation. He has participated in Real Estate courses at McDonald's University, ULI and Colliers University. He is also a member of the Peruvian Association of Real Estate Agents: ASPAI.
He currently leads a team of almost 400 professionals, leading the full range of services of the company, such as: Consulting, Valuation, Facility & Property Management, Investments, Brokerage, among others, for the office, retail, industry and land markets. He is also responsible for strategic planning and business development, as well as the company's financial results.
Eric Rey de Castro is positive about the behavior of the market he serves, however he believes that "real estate is an industry that requires the long term to be successful and for that the important thing is that the country does not stop showing signs of confidence and stability. The office market, for example, is approaching the oversupply phase and demand is not keeping up with developers' expectations. In this sense, there are other variables that will boost this market, for example the arrival of more investments, "says our guest.
Looking at the provinces would be one of those alternatives that our guest calls a good option, because, he emphasizes, having space to grow, many companies (including the one he directs) develop their business projects there.
However, Rey de Castro maintains that to grow in the interior the price of the land should not be so decisive: "Sometimes the permits are complex or the idiosyncrasy of the place does not lend itself to what was planned. I have seen projects that due to lack of control have lost what in principle – by going to the provinces – they thought they would gain."
According to our Professional of the Month, "what has differentiated the Peruvian market are two things. The first and most important is that for the real estate business to flourish there has to be a long term and only in recent years has this vision been taken of having stability, growth and clear rules of the game, which are the bases for a Peru with that future. With this situation, commercial credit (cards) and mortgages are developed, which is in the first case the engine of commercial developments, and in the second the dynamizer of the residential sector. You can't do a mall project if you don't have a long financing structure. You can not buy an apartment if you do not have a mortgage loan, which in turn has to be for an extended period. These are the two engines of real estate development and are related to the stability and long-term vision of the country," he says.
On the other hand, our guest points out that in his country, the main factor that has harmed small real estate companies, especially in what has to do with the residential sector, has been the decrease in the speed of placement. "Before about 84% of homes were sold in pre-sale, now only 65% can be placed at this stage.
As for what the expectations are for the sector, our Professional of the Month underlines that "Continue to grow. If things continue well in the economy, in the coming years real estate values will rise in tandem. Let's not forget that real estate investments should be part of the investment portfolio of any serious company or investor and this is not what I say, but capgemini's "Wealth Report" that analyzes wealth in the world and gives real estate 20 to 25% in investment portfolios. "
The brand it represents
Colliers International, which is a benchmark in Peru, was born in 1997, when R Propiedades S.A.C., one of the most important real estate companies in the country, founded by our guest Eric Rey de Castro and providing real estate brokerage services since 1955, became its representative office. In parallel, the Consulting area was developed, which was its main objective, in order to build the most complete database in Peru of the various markets that make up the real estate sector and on that basis offer advisory services for investment projects, studies of optimal location of commercial premises, market reports, representation of users, valuations, Studies of Highest Best Use / HBU, among others.
Likewise, they created the Corporate Services area, which professionalized traditional brokerage and incorporated new services such as renegotiation of contracts, representation of owners, investment contests on land, etc.
After the success obtained in the first years, Colliers International Property Consultants became a shareholder in R Propiedades S.A.C. in 2001, betting on developing professional services in a market with a lot of potential such as Peru. After its consolidation in Lima and before the development of the main cities of the interior of the country, they carried out work to identify potential commercial and residential development areas based on meticulous field studies with successful results for clients who have seen new development poles in provinces.
In addition, from their headquarters in Lima they attend to any order that is presented in the markets of Ecuador and Bolivia.
Our guest highlights that at the end of 2011 they joined with the MG Corporation to offer integrated real estate services and complete the value chain and include the Real Estate Management Service, which today is a plus and reference in the country.
