The BuyerSide teams carried out a great transaction in April. We assisted an institutional client to expand their residential real estate portfolio ‘up to the hilt’, thanks to the acquisition of a property located at the heart of the Châtelain district. With the Delhaize Molière supermarket just next door, the Pain Quotidien bakery on the corner of the street, avenue Louis Lepoutre and place Georges Brugmann just a few steps away and direct access to rue Tenbosch and the park of the same name, this property is ideally situated! In addition to all that, set within a block, it is exceptionally quiet, while still being within walking distance of the main shops in Ixelles… Peace and quiet or a lively atmosphere, it’s up to you!
The building in brief
This property comprises 13 residential units with a surface area of 1,250 m2, 18 parking spaces and three commercial/production units. All for an anticipated profitability in excess of 4%.
A successful negotiation despite a tricky path:
Before we could finalise the transaction and break out the champagne, we had to overcome and iron out a number of obstacles. In fact, at the beginning the deal involved certain points that had to be resolved:
- the neighbouring building had previously been sold unit by unit, so we had to check that there was no joint ownership;
- the ground floor had not yet been rented out, so we needed to make sure that the commercial unit would be leased at a market price (an organic food store will shortly be opening here);
- the construction work was not yet completed, so the building work and the provisional acceptance of the property had to be properly followed up;
- the environmental permit for the parking spaces still had to be obtained, and that could have impacted on the valuation.
This transaction once again demonstrates the appetite among our private and institutional clients for existing residential blocks, but also BuyerSide’s capacity to ‘source’ this type of rare and exclusive dossier. It might have been expected that the residential units would be sold one by one, especially in a district like this, but the ‘block’ sale came out on top.
Collaboration to successfully complete the transaction
To enable its buyer client to carry out this transaction, the BuyerSide team is proud to have been able to sign this deal thanks to positive collaboration between its residential department (B2C - private real estate) and its professional department (B2B - corporate real estate). The collaboration and the synergy between the two departments was perfect. On the one hand, the residential team, which is developing more and more, has taken charge of ‘hunting’ on the ground and ‘networking’ at cocktail parties to unearth great block sale opportunities that are becoming ever larger. And on the other hand, these opportunities are welcomed by institutional clients, increasingly motivated to buy residential property as well as office buildings, retail, etc. So the PRO team and the RESIDENTIAL team merged for this transaction.