The Communications Gap: European Investment

Politicians and the public are talking about real estate more than ever

Aligning communications to the public and politicians is key

It is clear that sentiment in the built environment across Europe’s investment hotspots varies amongst different interest groups.
Analysis reveals that the investor and developer community is not aligned with the public. Establishing a narrative that resonates with the public and political sentiment can elevate your proposition.
Addressing the gap in sustainability conversations between political stakeholders and the industry is crucial in the drive towards net-zero targets. The built world is government's key partner.
With a wave of new governments across Europe, now is the time for investors and developers to take a leading role in shaping the future of the built world, and respond to this renewed interest in our sector from the public and politicians.

Seemingly forever, the built environment has pleaded for a fairer hearing from the public and politicians. But, our latest research suggests that to engage these stakeholders effectively, the sector needs to do more to address their interests.

This latest edition of ING Media's Most Talked About Cities series has tracked conversations across the ten markets in Europe that attracted the greatest volume of commercial real estate investment in 2023: the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Finland, Denmark and Sweden. We studied conversations conducted by the property sector, the public and politicians to determine the communications gap between these groups.

As the market thaws, strategic storytelling and brand building are vital if investors and developers are to earn the trust of stakeholders. Consistent messaging, aligned to the public mood and political climate, can help shift perception and create opportunities across markets.

ING Media’s research into the importance of digital messaging across the built world has entered its sixth year. Over that period our analysis has highlighted how communication affects investment decisions and how online conversations can influence the reputations of brands and places.

Now with economic conditions stabilising across Europe, and interest rates and inflation hikes slowly retreating, the investment community is poised to return to the market after a period of relative inactivity.

However, changing living, working and leisure habits in Europe means that the public's attitudes to the built world is shifting. Political instability is also affecting how and where investors deploy capital.

Our analysis evaluates whether conversations have grown, or shrunk, across different asset classes, and whether there is correlation between what investors and developers are prioritising and what politicians and the public are focusing upon.

We also interrogate which countries are most discussed globally in terms of their inward investment credentials and investigate which core themes are emerging.

Our findings show that investors and developers are discussing retail more than any other subsector, while talking about business and sustainability more generally. France, Germany and Italy, meanwhile, are the countries investors are talking about most.

Allied to our previous editions of our Most Talked About Cities series, we also find that culture remains the most significant driver of conversations among the public and politicians. But at a time when politicians are talking about talent and technology, a shift in focus may be required.

As the property sector looks ahead to a more active 2025, understanding this communications gap will help investors and developers take ownership of the conversation, demonstrate the value of the physical assets that underpin the world’s most valuable sector, connect more positively with public and government, and ensure ESG and other strategies land as intended.

ING Media’s investigation into The Communications Gap covered digital mentions across Top 10 European Countries by Commercial Real Estate Market Size (MSCI, 2024), which includes the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Netherland, Finland, Denmark and Sweden. These mentions, from 01/09/2023 – 31/08/2024, originate from online news, ‘X’ (Twitter), forums, blogs, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, comments and reviews. Spelling variants included to cover the following languages; English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Danish and Finnish. We monitored mentions across three different stakeholder groups: the public, over 150 global investors and developers and the most prominent politicians and parties in each of the 10 selected countries. We tracked most prominent topics, most talked about stories in each sector and analysed which key themes each stakeholder group mentioned the most.

If you would like to learn more about the report and how ING works with cities: citiesunit@ing-media.com

PREVIOUS REPORTS

Featured