Intelligent Property Search can lead to New Investment Possibilities

As one of Denmark’s biggest real estate chains, EDC Erhverv has historically had access to a lot of data and systems and has collected and structured data on an ongoing basis for the past many years.

‘For over 10 years our analysis department has combined public databases with Google and BBR (The Central Register of Buildings and Dwellings in Denmark) and has increased our knowledge about the total Danish property market on an ongoing basis, but we have also acquired supplementary data in order to be able to look into investment possibilities or new properties in all of Denmark’, says Joseph Alberti, Head of Research at EDC Erhverv Poul Erik Bech. Today, he says EDC Erhverv among other things assesses a building in relation to what it can be used for and its availability of facilities.

‘We also have data for 4 million buildings and 3 million units throughout the country and have categorized them according to property types. This is valuable information for our customers because there can be a variety of units – and therefore various uses – of the same property. Additionally, facilities are a deciding factor for the rental potential of the property, and therefore we also have data on the number parking spaces, toilets, whether there is an elevator, etc.’, he says.

Joseph Alberti points out that there is often a need to look across municipal boundaries, and therefore it is a strength that the EDC Erhverv mapping tool combines several parameters and can be used to search for properties across postal codes. Furthermore, the mapping tool can filter properties based on distance to the motorway, public transport or green areas and thereby focus the number of potential investment possibilities.

Knowledge about current tenants allows for additional investment possibilities

Beyond knowledge of the buildings themselves EDC Business also knows who lives in the buildings and who owns them – and this may be an advantage for investors interested in purchasing.

‘We have also combined our property database with economic company data. By combining the two databases, we can examine which other companies are in the requested areas, and which industries they represent’, he expands and explains that this is important information for investors.

‘The most important thing for many investors today is stable tenants. To give a concrete example of our advisory capacity, on behalf of our investors we are able to localise companies which have a turnover of over 50 million kr. per year, have generated a positive result over the past three years, share properties with no more than three other tenants and are residing in an office building in e.g. Jutland that they don’t own themselves. This way we localise an investment possibility by finding strong tenants. Naturally, we then know who the present owner of the property is and are thereby able to help the buyer knock nicely on the door in order to hear whether the owner is open for a potential sale’, says Joseph Alberti.

‘Data and digitalisation are a significant part of the future within the real estate business. We have therefore launched several data-related products during the course of the year and are presently working on adding several strings of data to provide customers with even more information’, he says.

The head of analysis explains that EDC Erhverv among other things has developed a unique transportation tool in 2019 that can calculate the total amount of transportation time of employees to and from work by car, by public transportation or by bike. This information is among other things used to advise companies in the process of finding a new location.