‘Goldfields’:
New Market Opportunities
for Real Estate Firms

How can compa­nies in the real estate sector distin­guish them­selves in today’s market and thus gain a compet­i­tive edge?

One way to achieve this is by expand­ing their exist­ing core busi­ness through addi­tion­al offer­ings, service models, subsidiaries or part­ner­ships. This opens up new oppor­tu­ni­ties for addi­tion­al revenue and value creation, as well as new, distinc­tive posi­tion­ing and market­ing avenues with­out compro­mis­ing the brand’s core values or price levels. In this Valdivia News­room edition, we use concrete exam­ples to show you how prop­er­ty compa­nies can make target­ed use of their exist­ing strengths to tap into new busi­ness areas. Iden­ti­fy these ‘gold­fields’ for your compa­ny – and with them, the oppor­tu­ni­ties for long-term growth and a stronger market position.

Vacan­cies – the typi­cal “gold­field”

The fields of activ­i­ty with­in the construc­tion and prop­er­ty sector are diverse – rang­ing from famil­iar ones such as green­field and brown­field sites to rela­tive­ly new concepts like blue­field, which incor­po­rates bodies of water. We refer to new busi­ness areas with attrac­tive growth and value-creation poten­tial as ‘gold­fields’. A key char­ac­ter­is­tic is that they are derived from exist­ing prop­er­ties, exper­tise or process­es and can there­fore be devel­oped with compar­a­tive­ly low risk.

Typi­cal exam­ples include the diverse possi­bil­i­ties for revi­tal­is­ing outdat­ed or vacant office build­ings, or the conver­sion of hotels to cater for the grow­ing popu­lar­i­ty of worka­tion stays, which we have previ­ous­ly report­ed on in earli­er issues. Further­more, leas­ing or letting these prop­er­ties allows for predictable long-term income whilst keep­ing the build­ings with­in the portfolio.

Added value from ecosystems

Howev­er, devel­op­ing inno­v­a­tive, demand-driven prop­er­ties from exist­ing stock is only one aspect of ‘gold­fields’. Their gener­al advan­tage for construc­tion firms, project devel­op­ers or investors lies in open­ing up new, demand-driven busi­ness areas that are never­the­less linked to exist­ing core compe­ten­cies and assets.

Gold­fields can thus serve as the start­ing point for a wide vari­ety of prop­er­ty-relat­ed services – rang­ing from prop­er­ty search and financ­ing to local ener­gy supply and the devel­op­ment of AI-support­ed services relat­ing to build­ings and their use. Gold­fields emerge where vari­ous services are intel­li­gent­ly combined into an ecosys­tem that opens up new markets and extends the value chain.

Deriv­ing greater value from exist­ing expertise

• Holis­tic office fit-out
  As stud­ies show¹, compa­nies and their employ­ees today want offices with varied designs, differ­ent work zones and services rang­ing from a barista to a crèche. Archi­tec­ture and fit-out should support flex­i­ble team­work and, as a coun­ter­bal­ance to the advan­tages of work­ing from home, provide a stim­u­lat­ing atmos­phere. Some construc­tion firms have recog­nised this and rein­vent­ed them­selves as concept providers. They offer holis­tic services cover­ing plan­ning, fit-out, inte­ri­or design and furni­ture – indi­vid­u­al­ly tailored to each client and with the aim of design­ing offices as oases of well-being that promote both perfor­mance and qual­i­ty of life in equal measure.
• Green Trans­for­ma­tion
  Anoth­er gold­mine lies in reduc­ing the envi­ron­men­tal foot­print of exist­ing build­ings. In addi­tion to ener­gy-effi­cient refur­bish­ment, this includes the use of envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly tech­nolo­gies and process­es, as well as sustain­able build­ing mate­ri­als. The design and instal­la­tion of addi­tion­al green roofs and green façades could also expand the range of services on offer and open up new market­ing opportunities.
• Ener­gy gener­a­tion and distribution
  The ener­gy tran­si­tion also opens up new oppor­tu­ni­ties for construc­tion and prop­er­ty compa­nies, build­ing on exist­ing resources and exper­tise. In addi­tion to invest­ments in the expan­sion of region­al and local elec­tric­i­ty grids – for exam­ple, via project compa­nies or ener­gy tran­si­tion funds – ener­gy gener­a­tion on their own prop­er­ties offers partic­u­lar­ly attrac­tive poten­tial. Photo­volta­ic systems on resi­den­tial and commer­cial prop­er­ties create addi­tion­al sources of income, for exam­ple through models such as tenant-gener­at­ed elec­tric­i­ty. Those who make strate­gic use of land, capi­tal or their prop­er­ty port­fo­lio can expand their busi­ness model in this area whilst simul­ta­ne­ous­ly posi­tion­ing them­selves as promot­ers of the ener­gy transition.

Services – a gold­mine of opportunities

Services relat­ing to the financ­ing, devel­op­ment, construc­tion and oper­a­tion of prop­er­ties are a gold­mine of oppor­tu­ni­ties. Many solu­tions in this area can be imple­ment­ed digi­tal­ly with rela­tive­ly little effort. Arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence also enables small and medi­um-sized enter­pris­es to devel­op inno­v­a­tive, high-perfor­mance value-added services with manage­able effort. Even in the event of a change of owner­ship – much like when buying a car – build­ings and services tailored to them can be offered as a pack­age, there­by secur­ing addi­tion­al, long-term revenue.

Anoth­er way for devel­op­ers and owners to expand their range of services is through commu­ni­ty manage­ment for neigh­bour­hoods or busi­ness parks. With this approach, dedi­cat­ed contact persons, proac­tive commu­ni­ca­tion and commu­ni­ty-build­ing initia­tives create tangi­ble added value for resi­dents, employ­ees and owners alike. The result is a stronger sense of connec­tion to the neigh­bour­hood or busi­ness, greater trust and high­er levels of satis­fac­tion. Prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence shows signif­i­cant improve­ments in service qual­i­ty, response times and tenant satis­fac­tion. As a comple­men­tary service offer­ing, commu­ni­ty manage­ment thus becomes a compelling differ­en­ti­at­ing factor and an addi­tion­al sell­ing point.

Expan­sion into the digi­tal world

AI-support­ed systems can ease the burden on prop­er­ty manage­ment teams, facil­i­ty manage­ment and owners, partic­u­lar­ly when it comes to prop­er­ty-specif­ic commu­ni­ca­tion with tenants in resi­den­tial prop­er­ties, employ­ees in commer­cial prop­er­ties and with­in the private prop­er­ty market. At the same time, they open up new busi­ness areas by util­is­ing exist­ing prop­er­ties, data and customer rela­tion­ships to provide addi­tion­al digi­tal services. A wide range of such solu­tions can be devel­oped by combin­ing chat­bots, voice bots, data­bas­es and select­ed interfaces.

The poten­tial appli­ca­tions range from financ­ing and refur­bish­ment, through build­ing usage, to prop­er­ty valu­a­tion: a ‘construc­tion finance advis­er’ can provide support during the prepa­ra­tion and through­out the process of secur­ing construc­tion finance. A ‘reno­va­tion advis­er’ supports owners and tenants with ener­gy-effi­cien­cy refur­bish­ments, list­ed build­ing regu­la­tions or age-appro­pri­ate hous­ing. An ‘OurOf­fice app’ brings togeth­er tips for lunch breaks, damage reports and commu­ni­ty features. A ‘prop­er­ty valu­a­tion app’ provides owners and prospec­tive buyers with infor­ma­tion on current valu­a­tions, loca­tion, market trends and price developments.

Further­more, such appli­ca­tions can simpli­fy the search for trust­ed advis­ers, service providers or trades­peo­ple and, through reviews and the expe­ri­ences of other users, offer guid­ance in making a choice. In this way, exist­ing prop­er­ty rela­tion­ships give rise to digi­tal value-added services that expand the range of services on offer, tap into addi­tion­al sources of revenue and strength­en customer loyalty.

Conclu­sion

Whether as an exten­sion of their own core offer­ing, as a subsidiary or through part­ner­ships – for construc­tion and prop­er­ty compa­nies, tapping into ‘gold­fields’ can mean growth or even secur­ing their very survival.

Many of these ‘gold­fields’ do not lie in the devel­op­ment or construc­tion of a prop­er­ty, but in its subse­quent use. This brings the entire life cycle into focus as a source of addi­tion­al services and value creation. In this way, a prop­er­ty evolves from a complet­ed project into the foun­da­tion for long-term customer rela­tion­ships, further services and follow-up contracts.

The start­ing point should be a company’s own assets and core compe­ten­cies, but beyond that, there are virtu­al­ly no limits to creativ­i­ty. Special­i­sa­tions, special­ist nich­es and the target­ed use of AI offer count­less oppor­tu­ni­ties to stand out from the compe­ti­tion and tap into new sources of revenue. In this way, exist­ing resources act as a gold­mine from which new value is creat­ed and promis­ing busi­ness areas for the future emerge.

Sources

1. “Future Office: What will make offices attrac­tive in the future?”, Fraun­hofer Insti­tute for Indus­tri­al Engi­neer­ing IAO / Union Invest­ment, Febru­ary 2025

(Image source: istockphotos.com)