25 years of HypZert: An external expert on an internal committee

25 years of HypZert: An external expert on an internal committee

In the previous articles in our statement series, only certified HypZert valuers had their say. Today we pass the baton to Manuel Jahn, Head of Business Development at Habona Invest GmbH in Hamburg and a long-standing member of the HypZert Professional Group Retail.  
Mr Jahn has extensive expertise in retail real estate. In 2017, he initiated the Habona Invest Report. The industry report, which is published annually on the topic of retail real estate, is the only one that evaluates the opportunities and risks of real estate from the user perspective.
Manuel Jahn has been contributing his expertise to the HypZert Professional Group Retail as an external member for many years now and therefore also has a very close relationship with HypZert and the HypZert valuers:

"25 years of HypZert in the second Corona year is more than a big anniversary for me. The anniversary, which is accompanied by a high degree of uncertainty in the real estate industry, underlines as rarely before the need for high professional standards in market and mortgage lending value appraisal. The founding of HypZert 25 years ago was a stroke of luck for the real estate and financing industry in that it initiated a leap in professionalism in valuation practice that was hardly foreseeable at the time. For the assessment - and evaluation - of the current upheavals, we have a host of HypZert valuers at our disposal today who enjoy my fullest confidence.

I say this as a long-standing, but "non-certified" member of the Professional Group Retail with the so-called view from the outside. Precisely because retail property has to face constantly changing tenant and user demands, its success factors are also constantly changing. For me, the regular review and adaptation of the valuation concepts to the conditions on the demand side are the greatest challenges not only for valuation, but for the investment and management of real estate in general.

HypZert cannot be credited enough for its openness to the special expertise of the Professional Groups and for enriching training events with high-calibre contributions by external speakers.  HypZert valuers master the formalities without being theorists. HypZert valuers neither run after the markets nor do they succumb to hasty conclusions. They do not see the property solely as a commodity, but determine its current and future benefits for the tenant or consumer. It helps to be able to look beyond the investment markets thanks to sound education and training.

What is easy to say can be an imposition in daily practice. Even in the Professional Group work we groan about the different roles from which we look at real estate. As financiers, as investors, as tenants, as users - and increasingly as climate savers. Each perspective requires its own expertise, its own key figures and benchmarks. All perspectives must be reflected in the valuation result.

HypZert is celebrating its 25th birthday with a splendid reputation throughout Europe. With its certification system, it has managed to react adequately to the increasingly complex world with ever more differentiated building types and more flexible real estate uses with prudence but due foresight. My thanks go to the entire, always helpful and friendly HypZert team. I wish them continued good luck in certifying appraisers and I am already curious to see how the valuations perform in the post-crisis reality."

We would like to sincerely thank Manuel Jahn for this great text and, above all, for his outstanding collaboration in the HypZert Professional Group Retail!