immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: Grossbank

  • UBS sees holiday flats at a turning point

    UBS sees holiday flats at a turning point

    The prices for holiday flats in Switzerland have risen by an average of 7 per cent year-on-year in 2022, UBS informs in a press release on its current “UBS Alpine Property Focus“. The real estate experts of the big bank have identified the biggest jumps with increases of 15 to 20 percent in the destinations of Arosa, Hoch-Ybrig, Flims/Laax and Engelberg. With prices of around 20,500 Swiss francs per square metre, the Engadin/St.Moritz destination currently leads the ranking of the most expensive second homes in the upscale segment.

    Since autumn 2022, however, experts have observed a slowdown in the price increase. According to Maciej Skoczek, real estate economist at UBS CIO GWM and lead author of the study, it will continue in the coming quarters. “A period of stagnating prices is on the horizon,” Skoczek predicts.

    According to UBS’s findings, the demand drivers from the pandemic years have now lost their power. “Hybrid working, coupled with a relocation of the primary residence to the Alpine region” was only used during the pandemic, and the holidays shifted to the home country will be replaced by trips abroad again when the restrictions are lifted.

    The pandemic left behind around 20 per cent higher prices for two-flats, UBS writes. According to their surveys, the total cost of buying an average flat has also risen to twice the cost of 2019 due to higher interest rates. “Some holiday home owners will consider selling to realise capital gains while escaping the increased costs,” Skoczek says.

  • UBS works with Climeworks and neustark

    UBS works with Climeworks and neustark

    UBS has entered into a long-term collaboration with Climeworks and neustark . According to the UBS press release , the two cleantech companies are to permanently remove a total of 39,500 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere for the bank. The agreement has a term of 13 years. It is intended to give Climeworks and neustark planning security and make a contribution to UBS's net-zero goal by 2025.

    Both Climeworks and neustark are spin-offs from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich . Both are dedicated to permanently removing CO2 from the air, but with different methods.

    Zurich-based Climeworks is now one of the so-called unicorns with a market capitalization of over CHF 1 billion. The company captures CO2 from the air at its Orca facility in Iceland, powered by renewable energy. It is then stored underground in basalt rock for thousands of years using the Carbfix method. Orca is the largest carbon capture and storage facility in the world.

    Neustark from Bern permanently stores the CO2 extracted from the air in recycled concrete. The concrete granulate enriched in this way allows the cement content in fresh concrete to be reduced and improves its climate balance by around 10 percent. This enables neustark to produce what it says is the most climate-friendly concrete in Switzerland.

    "With this commitment, UBS shows its pioneering role in the area of climate protection and hopefully inspires others to follow this example," said Valentin Gutknecht, co-founder and co-CEO of neustark. "Long-term off-take agreements are an important prerequisite for the much-needed expansion of carbon capture technologies."

  • UBS joins forces with Invesco

    UBS joins forces with Invesco

    UBS and the American Invesco Real Estate have agreed on a cooperation. Together, they offer UBS clients access to Invesco's global real estate mandates. This will make it more efficient for UBS Global Wealth Management's private customers to include this asset class in their portfolios, according to a media release from the major Zurich bank.

    The new offer will primarily invest in Invesco's direct real estate strategies, but also in listed real estate stocks, co-investments and direct real estate. With assets under management of 63.3 billion dollars in direct real estate investments and 19.9 billion dollars in listed real estate values, as well as more than 580 real estate professionals worldwide, Invesco is "the only manager with comparable strategies in the USA, Europe and Asia", so UBS.

    "This offer was specially structured for UBS and its clients in order to offer them stable and attractive regular income over the long term," said Marty Flanagan, President and CEO of Invesco, quoted in the press release. According to Bruno Marxer, Head of Global Investment Management at UBS, this partnership underscores the bank's commitment to providing its clients with exclusive access to solutions from leading partners.