Jade Signature, Miami/Sunny Isles Beach, FL, USA

Photo Credit: Jade Signature

We’ve become used every January to hearing about new beginnings and fresh starts, but I think it’s fair to say the start of this year really is a momentous turning point – in more ways than one.

If 2020 represented stagnation, hesitation and decline, 2021 is set to be the year we had all hoped 2020 would have been – the start of an ambitious, prosperous and bright new decade. We’re just running twelve months behind schedule!

I truly believe the luxury markets, and indeed all business, should be optimistic for this coming year for three key reasons. Firstly, mass vaccination means the Covid pandemic will hopefully no longer dominate our lives – from our ability to travel to how we do business – in the way it did last year.

Secondly, the new administration in the White House (love it or hate it) should mean a less isolationist US, and with a return to globalist policies, travel to and investment into the US should become easier and more stable.

Thirdly, Britain will finally be out of the European Union. Again – you may love it or hate it, but I personally strongly feel we must be ambitious and positive about our European divorce, seeing it as an opportunity to forge new relationships and generate greater economic growth.

One Palm, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Photo Credit: Omniyat

Stability in global markets, coupled with the skies reopening, means that international investing will be far more feasible and appealing to HNWs over the next 12 months it was over the last year. Current circumstances also mean there will be unique opportunities for young, hungry, up-and-coming ambitions companies with a fresh approach to do things differently and grab a market share.

This is why, at both Montague Real Estate and Monta Capital, we are undertaking an ambitious expansion into new markets throughout 2021 and beyond.

Ever since I founded Montague Real Estate in 2015, we have always had one eye on international expansion, but the time has never been quite right – either because we had not yet sufficiently scaled, or because market conditions weren’t conducive to overseas investment.

Now, however, we sense a real opportunity to be serving a new breed of international HNW – one looking to invest in the finest international luxury properties in a post-Covid world. This renewed demand after a slow year in 2020, coupled with our ambitions for international expansion, has made it an opportune moment for us to be investing overseas.

We will be opening our first international office in Hong Kong in Q2 2021. Why Hong Kong as our first port of call, over say Singapore or New York?

Firstly, being a British company means a special connection to Hong Kong given the two regions’ history, making it a natural choice.

Jade Signature, Miami/Sunny Isles Beach, FL, USA

Photo Credit: Jade Signature

Secondly, the demand from affluent Asians for property in the UK has skyrocketed in recent years; despite the Covid pandemic, inquiries from Asia have increased for us by more than 300% in the last 12 months. For affluent Hong Kongese, London in particular offers exceptionally stable property investments, some of the West’s leading educational establishments and incomparable lifestyle opportunities.

Thirdly, we see Asia as one of the most exciting locations in which to invest in luxury property in the coming years. I believe we’ll see a strong economic bounce back in the Far East, driven by an ambitious Millennial generation seeking affluence and success. We want to be positioned at the center of this wealth generation.

As well as our breakthrough into Asia this year, we also took our first steps into the US and Middle East at the back end of last year and will be building in both these markets over the next twelve months too.

In the Middle East, we will be establishing offices in Dubai, which will serve as a hub for the wider Middle East region; in the US, we undertook our first listing in Miami – a city of great potential and interest to us – and will be expanding further across America over the next twelve months too.

I strongly believe 2021 will also prove to be fertile ground for investment in property as an asset class, including through bespoke property funds. As a result of the Covid pandemic, a number of different segments of the property market – both residential and commercial - have stagnated in growth and are, I believe, devalued. Now, therefore, is the time to be capitalizing upon these destressed assets - before the markets fully recover.

Thomas Balashev

Photo Credit: Montague Real Estate

I co-founded Monta Capital, a real estate fund, in May last year, to serve as the investment arm of Montague Real Estate. Part of the fund’s purpose is to invest in developed high-end real estate sites, and although circumstances in 2020 means our initial growth plans were put on hold, we optimistically forecast 2021 as a far more positive year for funds such as ours.

Both tumultuous market conditions and alternative investment fads will come and go. What has been proven, time and time again, however, is that high-end property serves as one of the safest and most enjoyable investments you can make – be you looking for a luxury property to enjoy and live in yourself, or to invest in, see appreciate and make a profit on. In 2021 we therefore look forward with positivity to seeing the Montague portfolio, and the wider property industry, experiencing a strong resurgence and growth out of the ashes of last year.

Thomas Balashev, Founder, Montague Real Estate and Co-Founder, Monta Capital 

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Montague Real Estate Founder Thomas Balashev is making waves on a global scale, and most recently made his entrance to the U.S. real estate market in a grand way—with an impressive $9.1M listing at the prestigious Jade Signature development in Sunny Isles Beach.

While Balashev and his team have established themselves as a premier, boutique real estate firm based out of Mayfair in London, his entrance to the competitive U.S. market has opened his eyes up to the difference in industry professionals in the U.S. versus the UK. As an industry leader and an expert on luxury real estate, he's come to applaud the 'U.S. way of doing things,' particularly pertaining to the way individual agents market and educate themselves.

There are major differences in the qualifications, training and education required to obtain a license in the profession in the two markets. While the U.S. requires thorough education of 90 hours and an exam that must be passed, with additional requirements for continuing education and renewing licenses over the years, Balashev notes that the UK has some ways to go in that department.

Jade Signature pool area

Photo Credit: Romain Maurice

"In the UK, weak regulation and low barriers to entry to becoming a property broker are tarnishing the reputation of the quality agencies. Anyone really can declare themselves a broker, and in my view, this undermines the industry. When I think about the other parties involved in a property transaction in the UK, you would expect any competent financial advisor or solicitor to be trained and qualified – so why not the property broker?" he notes. 

He feels that this situation can be rectified, modeling after the U.S. real estate, which he has come to admire.

"This is why I am calling for a minimum required amount of training required and the establishment of central licensing and regulatory body in the UK, which would ensure an examined standard was met before individuals or agencies could call themselves property brokers," he shares. 

Balashev also touches on the importance of each realtor building his/her own brand within the U.S. market. In the UK, he feels that more emphasis is placed on the brand behind the broker, not the broker as an individual brand. This leaves fewer options and also less motivation behind the due diligence behind the realtor to go above and beyond for the client.

Sky Villa at Jade Signature Views

Photo Credit: Romain Maurice

‘Take football clubs for example," he explains. "They build their own brand, but also support and nurture the individual brands of the players, who the clubs know are the real individual assets and stars of the show. I believe agencies should be the same. Of course, the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts. But investment in the individual agents and their brand offers a more human, accessible, and relatable service – people prefer to do business with people, not with less personable companies and corporations."

Because of this, Balashev plans to continue Montague's presence within the U.S. real estate market, with expansion plans on the horizon for new listings. Outside the U.S., Montague has also recently entered the Middle East market in a significant way, even creating a new division of the company for this market alone, headed up by Luke Banks. Additionally, Montague has its sights set on Asia to enter the Hong Kong market in the coming year.

For more news and to keep up with all of Montague's latest listings and developments, please visit the website: https://www.montaguerealestate.com/.

The post Montague Real Estate Founder Thomas Balashev On Why The UK Can Learn From U.S. Real Estate Industry appeared first on Haute Residence by Haute Living.