Interview: ”Operator first, then the property.”

Editor: How did you originally get into the real estate industry? 

Dr. Sabine Schaffer: Having worked in private equity through the 2008 financial crisis, I experienced first-hand what happens when liquidity disappears from the market, alongside many hedge funds and other investment vehicles. The only reliable cash flow we saw in our investment company came from real estate. I found the idea of combining a solid running yield with private-equitystyle-value appreciation potential fascinating, and that is exactly where I ended up.

Editor: And how did that become Pro-invest Group?

Dr. Sabine Schaffer: Pro-invest Group emerged 15 years ago from a concrete observation and the coming together of a team with deep operating real estate experience, many of whom had previously worked together at Stannifer Group, which was founded by our Founder & Chairman Ronald Stephen Barrott FRICS. Established and successfully grown across Europe during the 1980s and 1990s, Stannifer Group owned, developed and operated a portfolio of 15 quality select service hotels and introduced IHG Hotels & Resorts’ Holiday Inn Express brand to Europe. Australia lacked a comparable, standardised select-service product in a market with some of the highest staffing costs in the world, of all places. From the idea of those two foundations , Pro-invest Group has grown into one of Australasia's most distinguished fully integrated operating real estate platforms, with a reputable suite of brands, together with fund and co-investment structures.

Editor: What is your methodical approach to investments in operating real estate? 

Dr. Sabine Schaffer: We believe the operating platform must come first, then the property. In the end, the value and yield of an operating asset are determined by a single party – the operator. If their incentives do not align with those of the investors, a misalignment arises that becomes costly later on. That is why Pro invest Group brings development, operational management, and asset and fund management together under one roof. For us, valueadd is not a passing trend, but our profile from day one. 

Editor: Looking at the regions – which markets do you find most exciting?

Dr. Sabine Schaffer: We concentrate on what we are good at: operating real estate in the Hospitality, Built-to-Rent and Flex-Living segments – above all in Australia and New Zealand. Of all OECD countries, Australia has one of the strongest forecast population growth over the next ten years, combined with the transparency and legal certainty that institutional investors from Europe are familiar with. 

Australia and New Zealand remain our primary focus markets, supported by more than 15 years of platform development, operational capability and investment experience across the region. We also see attractive opportunities in Japan and Singapore, where strong market fundamentals and evolving accommodation demand continue to create compelling investment themes aligned with our operating real estate strategy.

Editor: If we meet here again next year – what will you say then? 

Dr. Sabine Schaffer: Probably the same thing, only more emphatically. Flex-Living is not a new topic. It is here to stay – and given sustained demand for accommodation, it will be even more clearly in focus in 2027. However, new construction alone will not solve this. We are therefore working more intensively on conversions: empty offices or older hotels that are being repositioned as hospitalityled, adaptive reuse accommodation. Build-to-Rent is currently still challenging from a cost perspective, but it will return at the right time, and we are ready to address this through our JV that was established with Kajima in 2025 for ground-up developments. The message is not changing; it is only becoming more imperative.

Editor: Thank you very much for the conversation.

Dr. Sabine Schaffer is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Pro-invest Group as well as CEO Europe, helping build one of Australasia's leading fully integrated real estate platforms (>AUD 3 billion AuM). Previously at McKinsey & Company, Sabine holds over 25 years of experience in private equity, finance and real estate. She has a Master's degree from Harvard University and doctorate from the University of Innsbruck.

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