Successful workshop on real estate finance by MBA and Archi+ draws strong turnout and engaging discussions

The Malta Bankers’ Association (MBA) and Archi+, on Wednesday 28^th February, held the second edition of the Real Estate and Finance Valuation Workshop with a dedicated focus on ESG and sustainability requirements in real estate valuation.

Themed “The impact of ESG and sustainability on real estate investment, finance and valuation”, for the second year around, the workshop attracted numerous bankers, stakeholders and other professionals from the real estate sector, further positioning the event as a valuable forum for knowledge sharing and exploration of the most pertinent and topical issues in the field.

The workshop was opened by the Chair of the Malta Bankers’ Association Marcel Cassar who welcomed the participants and introduced the context for the presentations and discussions on the agenda. In his speech Mr Cassar stressed that ESG is here to stay although in fact it has always been around. However, ESG requirements will increasingly shape and influence real estate valuation. Mr Cassar concluded his speech by maintaining that if we want a positive long-term return on real estate investment, be it residential or commercial, this will also increasingly come from sustainability-proof business models that are built on sound ESG principles.

Archi+ property valuation expert Justin Mizzi commented: “In a period of rapidly changing global real estate market dynamics, the MBA and Archi+ annual workshop on real estate finance and valuation aimed to educate and encourage discussion, knowledge sharing, and debate between the key local property stakeholders on diverse aspects of real-estate theory and practice. Moreover, this year’s workshops offered an insightful exploration of a topic that is becoming impossible to ignore: ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) – where we delved into the impact of sustainability and ESG factors on real estate finance, investment and valuation.”

Topical presentations were delivered by Michaela Ghigo (Central Bank of Malta), Chris Meilak (EY Malta), Anthea Huber (Archi+) and Clint Azzopardi Flores (Malta Bankers’ Association).

The workshop concluded with a panel discussion “Dealing with the flaws, threats and challenges of ESG in real estate finance, investment and valuation”, that was moderated by the Secretary General of the Malta Bankers’ Association, Karol Gabarretta. The discussion saw the participation of Perit David Xuereb (Chair MCESD and ESG Alliance), Clint Azzopardi Flores (Malta Bankers’ Association), Chris Meilak ((EY Malta), and Michael Warrington (CEO AX Group p.l.c.).

This year’s event was structured across two workshops to enable a well-paced exploration of the topic. The first workshop was a physical event supported also by Bank of Valletta p.l.c. and BNF Bank p.l.c. This was followed with a live online event on 7^th March, supported by PwC Malta.