Mr. Walid Moussa, President of the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI World), spoke about his vision of the situation in the real estate market in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. According to him, COVID-19 will certainly have an impact on the real estate market. However, in the long run, real estate investments will be much safer than investments into stock markets.

Stock markets collapsed not only in Europe and the United States, but all over the world. At the same time, real estate investments, especially during times of crisis, remain the safest. This is because the real estate market reacts to all ongoing processes more slowly; it is more difficult to influence it. Contrary to all efforts of the Central Banks of Europe and Asia, their stock markets continue to fall.

In an attempt to minimize the impact of coronavirus on the economy and stock exchanges, the US Federal Reserve announced a serious reduction in the base interest rate.

At the moment, it is difficult to say how much COVID-19 will affect developers. Undoubtedly, real estate demand will decline. However, there may be exceptions. If the crisis drags along, there will again be investors willing to invest into real estate. Moreover, one will observe a fall in prices for residential and commercial properties in the countries most affected by the coronavirus.

To date, over 420,000 cases of COVID-19 infection have been registered in the world. According to WHO, most of them are in China, Italy, USA, Spain, France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Guidance during COVID-19 from the President of the International Real Estate Federation to real estate brokers

One of the main precautions recommended by doctors is to limit interaction with other people. And although the work of a real estate broker is, first of all, holding shows, meetings with sellers, buyers and lawyers, the FIABCI President urges to follow the doctors’ recommendations to protect not only yourselves, but also your partners and clients.

Remote work is the best solution for a real estate broker. Therefore, if possible, all tasks related to administration or marketing can be performed from home using operating CRM systems.

The agents should be limited to urgent meetings with serious clients only, at that, using special masks, gloves, disinfectant gels and antiseptics. You also must wash your hands often and keep a distance of at least 1.5 m from each other.

A source: CPI