00:00Neil, thank you so much for your time today. Obviously, so much focus on energy, also fertilizer as well as
00:06it struggles through the great Gulf of Hormuz or not, as may be the case.
00:10But real estate, you might think be largely immune to this, but can you tell us what trends you're seeing
00:16right now?
00:18Yeah. Hi, Paul. Look, at this moment in time, real estate remains somewhat of a safe haven.
00:25We've carried fantastic momentum from 2025 into this year. Global economies were resilient, plenty of liquidity in the debt markets,
00:35a lack of treasury volatility.
00:37So, we did carry great momentum. Obviously, things have changed somewhat.
00:43We haven't seen the effects of the war really flow into real estate markets yet, but we keep a close
00:48watching brief on what's going to happen with inflation,
00:52with consumer spending and, of course, with interest rates.
00:57Well, JLL does have some major projects in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Riyadh as well.
01:02What are you observing around capital deployment in the region at the moment?
01:08Yeah. Again, I mean, the direct effects of the war in the region is what we see first before we
01:17start seeing the secondary downstream effects in major markets around the world and here in Asia.
01:23At the moment, we're seeing the Saudi economy where we have a large business being extremely resilient and very much
01:30business as usual.
01:31You know, we all hope to hope for a quick resolution of the situation there.
01:38At the moment, when we look at forecasts around the world, we see that, you know, we saw Oxford Economics
01:46this morning saying that GDP levels expect to still continue growth if we can manage to get this resolved by
01:52the end of April.
01:53So, look, we remain hopeful for a speedy resolution.
01:57Real estate has still got some fantastic tailwinds from AI-driven demand, for example, around the world, and we hope
02:04those demand signals continue.
02:08Yeah, I do want to talk about AI in a short moment, but just in terms of advice you're giving
02:14to clients about short-term leasing, investing strategies in Middle Eastern markets, are you just telling them to sit tight,
02:21look through the noise, or are you telling them something else?
02:24Yeah. Yeah, look, I think that's the case for all of us is trying to understand the difference between sort
02:30of noise and real signals in the market.
02:33Obviously, there is a wait-and-see approach in the Middle East itself, but investment continues.
02:38We see it around the world, as I said.
02:40That AI-specifically-driven demand, you know, the desire to occupy the most important and most in-demand spaces around
02:50the world, digital infrastructure demand remains at all-time highs, and we're seeing demand in logistics space extremely high as
03:00well.
03:00So, look, I think that real estate remains a really exciting home for capital at this moment in time.
03:10Yeah, a moment ago, you were talking about the resiliency of the projects in Saudi.
03:15So, once this conflict is over and will end, what do you anticipate in terms of a return of confidence
03:20or of a rebound?
03:24Yeah, I mean, look, it all comes down to how long this goes on for, and it's said that the
03:30macro impacts and downstream impacts of the war, it's very difficult to predict at this moment in time.
03:35We do see real resiliency, though, in the real estate markets and availability at capital.
03:40JLL is now the sort of largest intermediary of real estate debt in the world, and we see, you know,
03:47increasing capital allocations to real estate.
03:50And should we get a resolution in the short term, you know, we expect that to continue.
03:57So, how does capital deployment at the moment in the Asia-Pacific differ from the global market, or is there
04:04not much, or is there a lot of similarity at the moment?
04:08I think a lot of similarity.
04:10Global capital is favoring innovation hubs, is favoring, you know, obviously, places like Beijing, Singapore.
04:20India is a fantastic market at the moment with that wonderful balance of sort of high GDP growth and fairly
04:28contained risks.
04:31So, you know, market demographics in India as well is, of course, is creating fantastic investment possibilities.
04:42The global capability centers there, of course, driving huge demand, despite some of the scare comments around AI impacting that.
04:52Yeah, well, AI is, of course, a two-sided coin here.
04:55I mean, it's powering through the crisis.
04:57There's huge demand for data center as well.
04:59So, can you talk to us a little bit about how that demand is reshaping your business?
05:06Yeah, look, at the moment, you know, I'm very positive about how AI is impacting real estate markets.
05:14I think the notion that there's a finite amount of work to be done in the world, and AI is
05:20sort of taking a piece of that, is a fallacy.
05:23You know, in fact, we're seeing increased productivity.
05:29We're seeing GCC markets in India, for example.
05:33What was once business process outsourcing?
05:35What was once cost arbitrage is something very different now.
05:39It's availability of talent.
05:41We're seeing end-to-end processes in big enterprises being reinvented, new ideas, new ways of working.
05:48You know, our global capability center, for example, in Gorgon, we have architects there.
05:54We have designers there.
05:56So, it's no longer a sort of a back office function, but something that's very central to our business.
06:01So, I think AI is bringing real opportunities for enterprises around the world to rethink how they do business.
06:07And I happen to believe that it's going to be a net positive contributor to humans, to productivity of enterprises,
06:17and indeed to jobs in the long term.
06:21Well, one of the stories of 2026 so far has been the stellar performance of the COSPI.
06:26Those big tech names are really having a moment.
06:28So, can you talk to us a little bit about data center demand in South Korea?
06:33Do you see South Korean companies looking for homegrown real estate, or are they looking to their immediate neighborhood, other
06:40countries?
06:42Yeah, I mean, data center demand is always a function of power availability and power resiliency.
06:51And obviously, capital, the data center demand is absolutely insatiable around the world.
06:56We see, you know, projected 12% CAGR to 2030 in data center growth.
07:05So, yeah, I think, you know, investors continue to favor data center infrastructure as a home for capital.
07:16I want to get your thoughts on property in China as well.
07:19Of course, it's, well, let's not get into its troubles here.
07:23But J.P. Morgan sounded a note of optimism on China property earlier.
07:27What are your thoughts on that?
07:28What's your outlook for the sector?
07:34Yeah, look, I think the fundamentals in China is the second largest economy in the world and a very important
07:41geography for JLL and many of our enterprise clients.
07:46Beijing remains a real innovation hub.
07:50I see, you know, China moving upstream in the semiconductor supply chain.
07:56The fundamentals of the economy are improving.
07:58So, yeah, we're very optimistic and upbeat about the Chinese real estate market in the long term.
08:05And how about Hong Kong?
08:06When do you see commercial real estate finding a flaw there?
08:11Yeah, I mean, there's been many opinions suggested on that.
08:17Again, we're seeing fundamentals improve in Hong Kong and we're excited by the prospects there.
08:23I think the transaction volumes that we've seen coming through the tail end of 2025 and into 2026, the first
08:31quarter, give us real optimism about the Hong Kong property market.
08:35Good job, guys.
08:35Yeah.
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