SAIV Past President, Patrick O’Connell is featured in the latest issue of Asset Magazine, where he touches on a number of issues including retail constraints, investor concerns, office vacancies and outlook for 2023.
When Asset last spoke to Patrick O’Connell, CEO of Spectrum Valuations & Asset Solutions, in October 2021, the country was anticipating a 4th wave of Covid-19. A year later, Covid has dropped from the radar to a large extent, and Spectrum remains busier than ever with valuations across all real estate sectors. In a recent interview with Asset he touched on a number of issues which come strongly into play when landlords look to have their assets valued, with the economic outlook and ongoing power issues topping the list of concerns.
Retail constraints
The day before our interview Patrick had been involved in an industry discussion looking at retail: retail performance pre-Covid, its trajectory during this ‘Black Swan’ event, the outlook in September 2022 and what the likely impact of another interest hike would be. “Shoppers are feeling the pinch,” says Patrick. “Covid period is no longer part of our calculations which gives us a more realistic view. This view takes us back to the pre-pandemic numbers when we were already in a spot of trouble. So fast forward to now where we are still sitting at pre-pandemic levels and you’ll realise that retail sentiment is fairly flat.”
Read the article on page 138 of Asset Magazine here.
