Mipim 2025: Avison Young's Rose talks tariffs and why 2025 is 'the year of the office'

Mark Rose, the chair and chief executive of Avison Young, has spent a fair bit of his time at this year's Mipim real estate conference discussing geopolitics: "I would be misleading anyone if I didn’t tell you that about two-thirds of my time is talking about tariffs and the US president. And that again, very interesting because I think there’s opportunity that comes with that."

But it's the deregulation he focuses on. "For every conversation about tariffs and potential instability, which I think is a little overblown, you have the other conversation about deregulation and, specifically for our industry, ability to get permits. I’m so happy that the conversations all week have been that it is just unacceptable that there are cities that a mayor will drive and hand you the permit and in other cities it can take four years to get your permit.

"The whole geopolitical – and again you really can’t get away from the US president – very positive on that deregulation front. Interesting on several other topics."

Both in terms of Avison Young's recapitalisation last year, and the market cycle, Rose said: "The worst is behind us", later adding: "Everyone is starting to see the positives, those not just the green shoots, there’s activity, there’s strength, there’s growth."

He also highlighted the importance of the office sector: "It’s been interesting and almost a little frustrating talking about the office sector in the UK because I’m not sure people realise how positive the opportunity actually is. So, we at Avison Young, and this is really around the world, is deeming 2025 to be the year of the office, and the reason being Class A assets really continue to do well over the last X number of years, while other product types were struggling, but where there is distress, [...] the real opportunity, the real returns are in office."

To see what Rose thinks about the UK's energy performance certificate scheme and his take on the mood at Mipim, watch the video above.