Author Archive for Vass Emőke – Page 3

TOP 50 Executives – The Most Influential RE Executives in HU 2024

By Vass Emőke
Tuesday, July 2nd, 2024

“Does the real estate business matter? Beyond the not insignificant fact of putting a roof over our heads, whether in the office, at home or, increasingly, a mixture of both as we embraced our hybrid future? I don’t mean to sound flippant; the answer is a resounding “Yes.” Apart from anything else, hitting targets to reduce global warming will be impossible without real estate, in the most broad and general of interpretations, doing an awful lot of the heavy lifting. Why? Well, together, building operations and construction account for nearly 40% of global energy-related CO2 emissions, according to a Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction report based on 2020 data. That may now be four years ago, but the statistic is not, as far as my uneducated eye can gauge, controversial. Indeed, several real estate executives featured in this publication cite it or something very close to it. The Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction, a flagship publication of the United Nations Environment Program, found in a report published on March 7, 2024, and based on 2022 figures, that energy demand and emissions from the building and construction sector represent over a fifth of global emissions. In 2022, buildings accounted for 34% of global energy demand and 37 % of energy and process-related carbon dioxide emissions. The report quotes Inger Andersen, the UNEP Executive Director: “There is no credible path to address climate change without a fundamental shift in the building and construction sector.” So, no pressure then.

I don’t mention any of this to create a rod to beat the back of our real estate executives, which would, in any case, be a pretty odd tactic for a publication dedicated to them. I cite the figures to underscore how vital the sector is to this planet and everyone on it. In other words, you should be interested in the people who run our real estate businesses, who build the offices we work in, and who must simultaneously protect Budapest’s architectural inheritance and create a modern, livable cityscape in which residents, workers and tourists can all find a home. In this publication, we seek to chart how they are doing just that, with specially commissioned and curated editorial content exploring the office, industrial, hotel and investment sectors, as well as looking at the rise of ESG in real estate and exploring the tensions in the architectural development of Budapest. We feature a helpful listings section detailing the leading companies, their business results and points of contact. Between those two sections, you will find the real meat of this publication: the biographies of many of the sector’s leading personalities. Find out what drives and inspires them and how they see the industry’s future in 2024 and in years yet to come. I hope you find it useful and informative because what these people, their colleagues and their businesses do matters on so many levels.”

Robin Marshall MBE, Editor-in-chief
Budapest Business Journal

VALTER KALAUS (4th time on the list)
Newmark VLK Hungary

BACKGROUND INFO

Valter Kalaus is the managing director of Newmark VLK Hungary. After receiving his diploma from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1996, he began his career as a commercial real estate advisor in the United States. In 2001, he moved back to Budapest and since then has been advising corporate real estate users, mainly in the Central European real estate markets. Kalaus established the predecessor of Newmark VLK Hungary in 2008 under the name VLK Real Estate Consulting. Before that, he was a vice president of Equis Corporation, a global real estate advisory firm for which he established the CEE regional office and managed operations from 2001 until 2008. He also worked as a director of real estate at KPMG, where he was responsible for establishing a new service line and consolidating the real estate-related services within the firm in Hungary. He has been swimming since age of five and was a member of Hungary’s 1988 Seoul Olympic swimming team. In the recent World Aquatics Masters Championships 2024 in Doha, he won two gold, two silver and two bronze medals and set a World Championship record as a member of the Honvéd Masters Swim Team. He is a board member of the Hungarian Swimming Federation. Kalaus is an active member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and a certified master scuba diver. He is the proud father of an eight-year-old son, and in his free time, he enjoys riding his motorcycle and playing golf.

Valter Kalaus - TOP50 RE Executive - BBJ

To buy the magazine click on the link below:
https://bbj.hu/shop/top-50-real-estate-businesses-executives-2024

Categories : Press

Wizz Air moves its headquarters to a landmark office in Budapest

By Vass Emőke
Monday, April 8th, 2024

Ultra low-cost airline Wizz Air has relocated its headquarters to Millennium City Center office park in Budapest. The company secured an 8,000 sqm of office space in a landmark office deal. The lease agreement was concluded for long term with very flexible conditions. Newmark VLK Hungary provided tenant representation to execute this transaction.

In a landmark lease transaction, Wizz Air moved its staff to the Millennium Tower. which is part of Millennium City Center premium office park by the river Danube in Budapest. The airline has set up its new headquarters by renting out the entire South Tower with state-of-the-art interiors and services to improve employee comfort. The company has its own, separate entrance and reception, a dedicated modern dining and catering area and a unit of a leading café chain, while a modern fitness centre is also available in the area.

“We tried to find a vibrant and rapidly developing location for the client. Millennium Tower is an excellent property as it is surrounded by a lot of services and the building itself offers many amenities. It already functioned as a company headquarters, so a significant part of the fit-out could be retained, a more cost-effective approach could be used to arrange the final interior space, which is an important aspect for a tenant which is a low-cost airline,” said Valter Kalaus, managing director of the real estate consulting firm, Newmark VLK Hungary which spearheaded the transaction, representing the tenant.

He added that only a few new projects have been launched in the Budapest office market over the past three years, most of the contracts are extensions and there are very few suitable office buildings among those already operating where such a large company headquarters can be established according to the modern standards and requirements. In addition, the flexibility of the lessor has extended to the point that it can also provide additional space for the future expansion of the airline should there be a demand for it.

“We are delighted to be moving our corporate headquarters to an office building with such outstanding facilities. The new premises will give Wizz Air, Europe’s fastest growing airline, a central hub to foster collaboration, community and innovation to strengthen its low fare leadership position. I am sure that the modern environment and easily -accessible downtown location will be appreciated not only by our existing and new colleagues, but also by our partners, while serving our continuously growing and expanding airline for many years to come.” – said Ian Malin, Chief Financial Officer of Wizz Air.

Categories : Office

Essential’s to retain office tenants, a quality canteen, café, and fitness center

By Vass Emőke
Friday, March 22nd, 2024

Leasing ground floor spaces of office buildings to retailers may help to retain core office tenants, even if it is done at a depressed price.

Restaurants, café, grocery stores and fitness centres are good choices – says commercial real-estate company Newmark VLK Hungary after summarizing its experiences of the past year.

Newmark VLK Hungary survey results have shown that in today’s environment, which is defined by the home office, there is an even stronger dependence between landlords and ground-floor tenants than before. Companies leasing office spaces want to lure their employees back to the workplaces, however, it is no longer enough to provide almost „hotel-level” offices; they also need locally available wide range of services.

” Landlords need tenants, and tenant companies’ employees need bank branches, dry cleaners, restaurants, or café’s where they can have business negotiations in a more relaxed environment if needed. Employees will appreciate grocery stores and fitness centre too.” – explained Valter Kalaus, managing partner of Newmark VLK Hungary.

Valter Kalaus as the guest of the Jazzy Radio, Business Class program was talking to Melinda Kamasz and Csaba László

Valter Kalaus Irodapiac - ESG, Home office, megváltozott iroda használat

He believes that landlords nowadays have to accept that retail tenants are not willing to pay rent. What they are ready to pay is some smaller, revenue-proportionate fee and, of course, pay the service charge. Before COVID, landlords could ask for monthly rent of € 20-22/sqm for better retail areas, but this has melted significantly by now.

Ground floors are predominantly leased out by restaurant or café operators which welcome external guests as well. Their disadvantage, however, is that they mostly see a significant number of guests only during lunch hours, thus cafés limit their spaces to 150 sqm while restaurants don’t want to take more than 400-500 sqm, as it wouldn’t be profitable. However, there was a recently concluded deal (handled by Losonci György, responsible for the retail sector at Newmark VLK Hungary) in which a restaurant entrepreneur signed a contract for an 800 sqm area.

Some restaurant operators try to lease office spaces close to their central kitchen; several have two or even more restaurants, thus improving their efficiency. Quite a few experiment with vegan food as well which, however, are somewhat more expensive.

According to Mr Kalaus, fitness centres, typically built for the tenant employees, are performing well. Like restaurants, these also occupy approximately 400-500 sqm but are open longer hours, before and after the work as well. Moreover, recently, many of them have introduced 45-minute thematic classes, so office workers can pop in during their workday. On top of that these units also integrate well into the surrounding residential areas, so customers come from there too.

There is another aspect for landlords: sports and leisure service providers are good clients also because they rent areas that others do not want to. If they do, however, they will demand significant discounts, but they do not need natural light, or even windows for the offered activity. However, sound insulation, ventilation, fresh air supply, and security are crucial to install.

A few years ago, smaller supermarkets appeared on the street facing ground floors of the office buildings. They are excellent complements to other services, as they have no time limit and can provide more revenue-proportionate money to landlords. However, not every office building can open one if the warehousing and stocking conditions are unsuitable. Technical transformation can be disproportionately costly as well, thus not every retail chain would undertake this.

Valter Kalaus also emphasized that retail tenants of office buildings are not willing to sign long-term contracts. They want trial months or a maximum of one year to decide whether to stay or move. As a result, they are reluctant to make significant modifications or developments within their premises, which doesn’t give too much flexibility to the landlords. But at the end of the day, they usually find a common ground, as both parties need each other.

For more news please click HERE.

Categories : Uncategorized

Real Estate Market Actors Look to Upturn for 2024

By Vass Emőke
Wednesday, January 17th, 2024

It remains an open question when investment activity in Hungary and the CEE region will pick up ater a subdued period due to concerns over the cost of finance, and the uncertain economic and geo-political environment, says real estate editor Gary J. Morrell. Another worry is how long yield corrections will continue.

Despite concerns over the cost of construction and debt finance and also around demand, healthy pipelines remain in the industrial, hotel and office sectors. All projects must be of a standard to meet changing tenant, customer, staff and guest expectations regarding the quality and design of space and increasingly strict and all­ embracing sustainability requirements.

“I don’t expect much noise on the investment market in 2024, but we also know that there is money to be spent, so I am certain we will see some interesting deals,” comments Valter Kalaus, managing principal at Newmark VLK Hungary. “I expect 2024 to be a difficult but interesting year.

I don’t anticipate many new projects, but I do expect some interesting resurrections of old ones and re-births of some forgotten ones. Both the office and industrial segments might show good signs so that we might see some noteworthy transactions. Tenants who are in the position to make a move can most certainly get some outstanding deals,” Kalaus adds.

  • BBJ Office Valter Kalaus
  • BBJ office 2 scaled

To read more visit: https://bbj.hu/

Categories : Office

Central European Business Awards (HBA) – 2023 Winners

By Vass Emőke
Monday, December 4th, 2023

Newmark VLK Hungary – Best Real Estate Service Provider of the Year 2023
Valter Kalaus, Managing Partner – Real Estate Grand Prix 2023

The Central European Business Awards (HBA) is the prestigious business award for companies and company managers in Hungary. It was created as a merger of three previous awards, the long-standing Hungarian CEO Awards, the FINTECH Awards and the WiB – Women in Business Hungary Awards.

“In our experience, many awards are won by the same large company leaders year after year, which raises the question: “Are there other great leaders and companies who deserve the recognition?”. We believe so. As a result of our vision, we created the Hungarian Business Awards.” – Somogyi Péter

For more information visit: https://businessawards.hu/

  • HBA Valter Kalaus Awards
  • Awards 2 scaled
  • Valter Kalaus Awards HBA scaled
  • Valter Kalaus Awards scaled
  • Valter Kalaus Newmark Awards2023 scaled
  • Valter.Kalus Newmark Awards
  • Valter Kalaus VLK Newmark HBA Awards 2023
Categories : Press

Five medals won at the European Masters Swimming Championships – Valter Kalaus

By Vass Emőke
Monday, November 27th, 2023

Valter Kalaus won three gold and two silver medals at the Masters Swimming European Championships organized by LEN (European Aquatics) in Madeira last week.

The managing partner of Newmark VLK Hungary has been swimming since the age of 5. He was a member of the Seoul Olympic team in 1988, and to this day he still competes in the Masters category for World and European Championship titles, while he also strengthens the Hungarian swimming as a board member of the Hungarian Swimming Association for several years.

With his routine he achieved time results that even beat younger age group swimmers at the European Masters Short Course Championships held last week in Madeira. As a swimmer of the Budapesti Honvéd Sports Club, he was able to stand on the podium a total of five times, winning three gold medals (100m freestyle, 200m freestyle, 1.5 km open water) and two silver medals (400m freestyle, 800m freestyle).

“It is not easy to combine the preparation for the Championships with my everyday work load and my family life, but now that the Masters European Championship has ended so successfully for me, I can say that it was well worth it and now I’m preparing for the World Masters Championships which will be held in February, 2024 in Doha. My goal was to win a medal in every race that I entered and I have accomplished that. Now I am very happy and at the same time, I owe a huge “Thank you” to everyone who helped me during my preparation process,” said Valter Kalaus.

For more informations vicit: https://www.len.eu/calendar-2023/

  • VLK Europe swiming6 scaled
  • VLK Europeswim5
  • Valter Kalaus - LEN -European Masters 2023
  • VLK Europeswim2
  • VLK Europeswi
  • VLK Europe swiming4
  • VLK Europe swiming3
  • VLK Europe swiming2
  • Valter Kalaus-swimming -LEN European Championship 2023
Categories : Press

BSCs an Essential Part of Budapest Office Market Development

By Vass Emőke
Thursday, November 23rd, 2023

Hungary, and Central Europe in general, has successfully ptomoted itself as advanced but cost-effective business destinations for international companies looking to establish what used to be called shared services centers. That trend helped make what are now increasingly called business services centers a core driver of the developer-led office market.

Valter Kalaus- Office-BBJ

To find our more visit bbj.hu 

Categories : Office

Europaproperty announces the Winners of the 2023 CRE AWARDS

By Vass Emőke
Wednesday, November 15th, 2023

Newmark VLK Hungary – Professional Service Provider of the Year 2023
Newmark VLK Hungary – Tenant Representation of the Year 2023

The CRE Awards celebrate excellence in the commercial real estate sector. Judged via a rigorous evidence-backed process on the success and market excellence of all nominees, these awards acknowledge the contribution of the commercial real estate profession in enhancing the reputation of commercial real estate companies operating around the CEE region.

Major winners of the 2023 CRE Awards included leading market players WING, NewWork, CPI, Erste Group, CBRE and Newmark…..

Newmark VLK Hungary received recognition from the jury for their substantial contributions to commercial real estate, securing the titles of Professional Service Provider of the Year and Tenant Representation awardee.

To read more click on the link below:

https://creawards.net/celebrating-success-5th-annual-cre-awards-in-budapest/

  • CRE Awards2023 weba scaled
  • Europaproperty Awards Valter Kalaus
  • CRE Awards2023 web1 scaled
  • CRE Awards2023 Valter Kalaus web2 scaled
  • CRE Awards2023 Valter Kalaus web3 scaled
  • CRE 2023 WINNERS 02
  • Valter Kalaus-CRE Awards-Europaproperty
Categories : Press

The office market remains price sensitive

By Vass Emőke
Thursday, November 2nd, 2023

NEWMARK VLK HUNGARY’S Managing Partner says demand for experienced advisors providing high added value is ever growing, as the alternative – rectifying a poor lease contract after it is signed – is difficult and expensive.

The real estate office market has slowed down, tenants are more cautious. Sadly, it often results in drawn-out decision making as tenants focus on safe solutions, fearing the unpredictability of the future. In consequence, there are more renewals and fewer relocations.

Valter Kalaus-irodapiac-VLKNewmark

The vacancy rate is rising, slowly but surely. Is this the golden age of tenant representation?

A competent and experienced Tenant Advocate is always a must have, however, tenants are often unaware of the difference we can make. They are optimistic about being able to conclude lease transactions on their own. More often than not, they end up with a less than optimal result that is difficult or expensive to rectify. The current vacancy rate represents a healthy market but is a bit misleading: although the number is higher than in previous periods (a little over 13%), the amount of high-quality office space available did not increase.

Statistics are often misleading. The 13% vacancy rate is true for the whole Budapest office market, but submarkets show a varied picture. The vacancy rate in the periphery is much higher than in popular submarkets. If you would like to rent an office space in the Váci corridor or in the CBD, you care less about available space in Budaörs.

Or if we look at the vacancy rate in modern, new, or renovated buildings that meet the ESG requirements of multinational companies – it will be a single-digit number. This brings us to the great dilemma of today’s office market: what to do with the outdated office spaces that require major renovations? How much will it cost to change them to be marketable?

What will happen to spaces in secondary locations that have been vacant for a long time? Is there any chance to lease them now? To sum up, the vacancy rate in immediately marketable, sought-after stock is no more than 5-6%, which leads to different conclusions about the state of the market.

How flexible is the market? Is it possible to terminate a lease contract that was signed a couple of years ago on outdated terms?

Short answer: yes, but the price will be high. It depends, of course, on the context. Basically, it is very difficult to terminate a lease contract before expiry, and it will most probably be very expensive. There are solutions, but we must know all the circumstances. The market tries to be flexible as there is demand for it regarding both sizes and lease terms, but it is not always feasible. Almost every transaction has its limits.

The market of serviced offices has grown more valuable, especially due to its inherent flexibility. In many cases, serviced offices are a big help for a transitional period, or can be a perfect solution for smaller companies, as well as for divisions or teams within a larger corporation even for longer terms. But there is always a point where the total cost of the serviced office is higher than in a traditional office. Serviced offices offer convenience and quick fix solutions – if you can afford them.

The most sought-after products are still the ESG-compatible, high quality, economical office buildings in prime locations, with flexible financial terms and technical specifications. But this often could be a “too much to ask for” category.

What is the priority for tenants when choosing an office? ESG? Energy efficiency?

Both, for a reasonable price. The market has evolved a lot and so have the tenants, but they remain price sensitive. Tenants look for better and better buildings, with a strong focus on amenities within the building and nearby.

Newmark is dynamically growing despite the current economic environment and has completed several acquisitions. In the beginning of 2023, they acquired Gerald Eve, a leading advisory firm in Great Britain, as well as two smaller, but strategically and professionally equally important firms. These transactions added 6-700 highly qualified and experienced advisors to the European Newmark network. We already feel the positive impact, although the integration is still ongoing. I am optimistic about the future.

This is a turbulent period for every segment of the market, there is no question. It is of the utmost importance that every professional should do their job with discipline, with the least amount of risk taking and focusing on the fundamentals. An experienced, well-prepared advisor can capitalize on the current market conditions. All in all, I am optimistic about the future, but I am aware that challenges still lie ahead of us, to manage in a calm, considered, conscious way.

Contact us should you need any more informations https://nmrk.hu/en/contact/

Categories : Office

TOP50 Executives – The Most Influential Real Estate Executives in Hungary 2023

By Vass Emőke
Wednesday, August 2nd, 2023

“Welcome to what is the third annual iteration of this publication, although those of you with a careful eye for typography and design may have spotted some changes from last year. Like the welcome current trend in property development in Budapest for taking a classical listed building, renovating and restoring the interior and giving it added value, we have updated this title. The new look and name bring it in line with its stablemates. But the content at its core has not changed.

So, while the publication is hardly old enough to be listed, it does still contain useful listings to help you navigate around the premier real estate companies in Hungary and their leaders. Our real estate editor Gary J. Morrell has also produced six pieces of specially commissioned editorial to give an authoritative overview of the office, industrial and logistics, and hotel sectors, the Hungarian property investment market, the impact of ESG on the industry, and architecture and the evolving look ot the city.

But beating at the heart ot Top50 Real Estate Executives are the biographies thai separate those two elements. When we launched the “Top” branded series, the aim was to continue to provide valuable business information, the bread and butter ot the Budapest Business Journal since it was founded 31 years ago, but also to add a more persona!, human touch.

We wanted to give readers an opportunity to get to know the personalities behind the company names just a little better. After all, the men and women featured on these pages go a long way to shape the cityscape (metaphorically, but in some cases also literally) ot this place where we work, rest and play. They give us their thoughts on what their companies are doing to reduce their carbon footprint, the real estate technologies that will be most significant in fighting climate change, the most challenging aspects of the market right now, and how crucial transparent benchmarking is for ESG in real estate. But they also share more persona! details, such as their hobbies and career pathways.”

Robin Marshall MBE, Editor-in-chief
Budapest Business Journal

VALTER KALAUS (3rd time on the list)
Newmark VLK Hungary

BACKGROUND INFO

Valter Kalaus is a significant player in the Hungarian real estate market. In the daytime, he’s the managing director of Newmark VLK Hungary, a significant leader in the Hungarian commercial real estate advisory market; at dawn, he’s training for his next race as a professional swimmer. Without sport, he says he would not be where he is today; thus, Newmark VLK Hungary (previously VLK Cresa) successfully represents a winning business approach on the Hungarian market. Kalaus has been swimming since the age of five. He was a member of Hungary’s Seoul Olympic swimming team and still competes in the masters’ category, having several World and European championship titles. He is a board member of the Hungarian Swimming Federation, bringing a wide range of international business and athletic experience to the governing body. After receiving his diploma from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1996, he began his career as a commercial real estate advisor in the United States. Based in Chicago, he assisted many Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies across America. In 2001, he moved back to Budapest; since then, he has been advising corporate real estate users, mainly in the Central European real estate markets. The predecessor of Newmark VLK Hungary was established in 2008 by Kalaus as VLK Real Estate Consulting. In 2022, VLK entered into a partnership with Newmark Global. Combining 27 years of comprehensive international experience in corporate real estate advisory and tenant representation with a powerful global partner seems to be an exceptional combination.

BBJ-TOP50 RE Executive - Valter Kalaus

To buy the magazine click on the link below:
https://bbj.hu/shop/top-50-real-estate-businesses-executives-2023

Categories : Press
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