Press
“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.
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