Representing tenants only, consultant seeks to corner local market niche.

(From Budapest Business Journal)

Byline: Judit Zegnal

Hungary got its first real estate consultancy firm that offers tenant representation last year, when U.S.-based Equis Real Estate Consulting Corp. launched a local office.

According to executives at Equis Real Estate Consulting Kft, exclusive tenant representation is a powerful tool to prevent bias based on agreements with property developers - something of which occupiers on West European markets are becoming increasingly wary, they say.

"We believe that representing both sides in a deal constitutes a conflict of interests, something we intend to avoid," said Valter Kalaus, vice president of Equis Kft. "We offer exclusive representation to the occupiers' side of property deals, as opposed to the practice followed by other real estate consultants, which generally represent both the occupiers and the owners in the same transaction."

In the first year of operation, Equis has accrued a client portfolio of 15 firms, including the local subsidiaries of …