Kindly hosted by Stanhope PLC, this month’s Lunch & Learn session offered the UK Young Leaders a chance to spend some time with Jim Garman – Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Real Estate in the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs.

The event started with round-the-table introductions, which revealed a very wide range of backgrounds the YL attendees are coming from – in terms of both real estate sectors (research, commercial, hotels, residential, etc.) and length of tenure in the property industry. Jim then spoke about his own professional journey – from studying and rowing at Cambridge, through RICS qualifying at Cluttons, to joining Goldman Sachs in 1992.

The past 23 years that Jim has spent working at Goldman Sachs – initially in Real Estate Advisory, then in MBD – have allowed him to witness all the major changes that impacted the shape of the real estate landscape as we know it today. When Jim first started at Goldman in 1992, the market was coming out of a downturn – with the bank expanding its fund and investment management operations from the USA to Europe and other parts of the world.

Jim’s insight into the changing market was valued by all in the room who have yet to see such transformation over their working careers. He also discussed his time at the bank during the downturn in 2008 and how his team had to pull together to get through the difficult period.

The discussion then moved to the challenges of investing across various geographical regions in different real estate sectors, while at the same time seeing common characteristics of investments. For instance, Jim noted that UK student housing is one of the very few sectors (German residential being another) that have experienced consistent year-on-year rental growth between 2009 and 2015. Due to its scale, UK student accommodation is probably the closest comparable asset class in the UK to US multi-family housing and can be a good investment model as an alternative to the PRS sector.  For student housing and PRS alike, a large scale of operations and big capital sums are both essential to ensure success. This is along with the more universal requirements of building on local and sector-specific expertise.

Everyone in the room was thankful that Jim shared his experience of both the difficulties and the opportunities present in the ever-evolving property market. The changes seen over Jim’s career provide an expectation of further evolution still to come.

Once again a big thank you to Jim for taking the time out of his busy schedule to meet us, answer all our questions and share some very inspirational stories! Many thanks also to Stanhope PLC for hosting and to all Young Leaders who attended the Lunch & Learn (including one from Calgary in Canada).

Words by Aleksandra Zolyniak