x € thousands, unless otherwise stated

Bouwinvest celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2018. In this period, Bouwinvest has evolved from a project developer into an asset manager, fund manager and ultimately into an international real estate asset manager.

The world in which Bouwinvest makes its long-term investments is marked by continuing urbanisation, ongoing globalisation, the increased ageing of the population, rapid technological changes and an urgent need to increase sustainability.

The global economy continued to grow last year, certainly in the United States, where the growth rate was higher than in 2017. However, growth slowed in Asia and Europe in 2018.

For a long-term investors like Bouwinvest, financial and social returns increasingly go hand in hand. By investing in better, more sustainable real estate, Bouwinvest contributes to the well-being and health of the areas it invests in.

Bouwinvest invests globally in metropolitan areas in ten countries and in six sectors. This strategy enables Bouwinvest to derive the maximum benefit from trends and developments, such as population growth, urbanisation and globalisation.

In the Business Plan 2018-2020 'Sustainable Growth', Bouwinvest set itself a number of goals. An average long-term return of 5% to 7% per year, excluding current exchange result. An annual transaction volume of € 800 million.

Bouwinvest’s goal is to realise a solid return on sustainable real estate investments for institutional investors and their participants. Because we invest for the long term, we do this in a responsible manner.

The European portfolio recorded a return of 4.7% in 2018 (2017: 10.9%). At year-end 2018, the European portfolio was valued at € 1.1 billion. We made € 100 million in investments in 2018, in homes, offices, shops and logistics centres.