Building on Opportunity: Growing Confidence for Astute Investors in Today’s European Real Estate Market

In 2025, optimism is returning to European real estate. Stabilizing interest rates, rising transaction volumes, and strong fundamentals in logistics, residential, and hospitality sectors are fueling renewed activity. But for mid-sized and growing international firms, this momentum brings a different kind of challenge: scaling operations without losing control of financial visibility.

Across Europe, ambitious real estate investors are running into the same roadblock: fragmented financial data infrastructure that can’t keep pace with their growth. What’s emerging is a quiet but critical divide: firms that can make confident investment decisions and those who can’t.

As firms expand across geographies and asset classes, the demands on finance and operations teams multiply. Stakeholders, from investors to regulators to internal leadership, expect timely, accurate reporting. But in many cases, backend processes and systems haven’t evolved at the same speed as the portfolio.

Service and Support Challenges

“Most firms aren’t struggling to find opportunity,” says one industry consultant. “They’re struggling to manage it.” Key challenges include:

• Limited access to prompt, ongoing support and collaboration, leading to underused technology and delayed value.
• Lack of user skills to handle financial and asset data or customize reports, creating dependence on specialists and reducing agility.
• Transparency issues from Excel-based monthly reports causing delayed insights and inconsistent data.
• ESG reporting that often lacks tenant-level detail, limiting precise sustainability efforts.
• Complex, varying e-invoicing requirements across countries adding compliance difficulties.
• Fragmented systems and poor integration complicating workflows and data consolidation, reducing operational efficiency.

How those who CAN make confident investment decisions are staying ahead

“There are two things. First, we now have the opportunity to analyze data better than before. We have AI and systems to support us. We’ve moved beyond Excel sheets. Second, we need to tie it all together. We have different landlords, systems, data points, and standards in our leases. However, we haven’t always identified the key items, and that needs to change.” Marianne Voerman, Director, Finance & Operations, Shell

“As clients demand more insights and expect landlords to provide more data and knowledge, the need to optimize, harmonize, and gather these insights shows that data is becoming a new natural resource.” Matus Liptak, COO, HB Reavis

Real-World Approach from Large Portfolio Owners to Scaling Real Estate Operations in Europe

1. Regional Industrial-Logistics Developer – Fragmented Systems, Delayed Reporting
   A major real estate player struggled with siloed systems, ESG blind spots, and inconsistent reporting across regions. By consolidating operations on a unified platform, they gained a single view across asset, property, and fund-level operations, turning weeks of data consolidation into instant decision-ready insights.
   
   

2. Opportunistic Investor – Outsourced Tools, No Real-Time Visibility
   Asset managers relying on third-party service providers often face delayed updates and limited transparency. One investment group established an internal platform layer connecting property, leasing, and facility-related data streams, unlocking real-time portfolio intelligence and stronger control.
   
   

3. Leading Investment and Asset Manager – Multi-Country Operations, No Cohesion
   Cross-border portfolios often suffer from inconsistent workflows, localised tools, and incompatible data formats. One firm used iREMS to standardise operations across more than 10 countries, enabling real-time portfolio roll-ups and central ESG oversight, while preserving local team autonomy.
   
   

4. Global Service Provider – Excel Dependence, Bottlenecked Strategy
   Many teams still rely on legacy spreadsheets, especially in asset controlling and ESG tracking, leading to human error and outdated insights. A leading fund digitised recurring reports and streamlined access to ad hoc analytics, enabling faster, sharper investment decisions.
   
   
5. Growing Logistics Company Expanding Across Europe
   Supporting expansion into 12 countries, this logistics firm needed consistent reporting and operational oversight across jurisdictions. By aligning reporting across jurisdictions, they kept control during a high-growth phase, culminating in their acquisition by a global investor.

Conclusion

As real estate grows more complex, effective data management and collaboration become crucial. Success relies not just on technology but also on strong user support and adaptable strategies.

iREMS was created to fill a gap in scalable, automated software designed specifically for real estate. Over time, it has extended focus toward helping organizations improve data management and operational efficiency through a combination of technology and real estate investment-specific business advisory.

For growing investors, platforms like iREMS offer more than efficiency, they offer a clearer path to confident, data-driven decision-making.