Dewaele Vastgoed group and Troostwijk join forces for an online bidding platform

Sofie Spriet, recently appointed CEO of Dewaele Vastgoed group

Dewaele real estate group and Troostwijk are joining forces to create an online bidding platform. The focus of the joint venture is on the sale of properties – from residential to commercial – originating from bankruptcies, bank repossessions or government contracts.

“By combining our expertise, we want to become the most important partner for trustees, banks and local governments for marketing real estate via our online bidding platform”, comments Sofie Spriet, recently appointed CEO of Dewaele real estate group. She explains the added value of the online auction platform to be launched: “Due to the necessary judicial authorization, the sale of real estate from a bankruptcy or bank attachment is often accompanied by the need for a bidding procedure, which often leads to a notary. However, a civil-law notary does not always have the necessary technical and commercial knowledge regarding the marketing of commercial real estate in-house, nor does the network of potential candidate buyers. As a result, a correct price for the property is not always achieved. From now on, our strategic collaboration will bring this joint commercial real estate knowledge of the sales procedure together via a bidding platform”.

DewaeleVastgoed groep will gain access to a new target group through the collaboration: trustees, administrators and local authorities. Troostwijk is part of the European online auction platform TB Auctions. It has long experience with this target group. For the auction house, the joint venture fits in with a strategy to further expand its European position. At the end of November, the Belgian online auction house for movable property Vavato joined TB Auctions.

Andy Vons, Director at Troostwijk for Belgium, France, the UK and Italy, comments on this alliance: “We are the leading online auction platform in Europe and Dewaele is the largest Belgian independent real estate broker with both residential and commercial real estate experts, so we feel that this is a perfect match for our joint target group of trustees, banks and local authorities. In addition, we see a lot of potential in the auctioning of real estate, with which we are absolutely the market leader in the Netherlands – through BVA Auctions.”

Competing with Biddit.be

The new online bidding platform launched by Dewaele and Troostwijk will clearly compete with Biddit.be, the first Belgian online public auction platform launched in 2018 by the Belgian federation of notaries. Previously, public auctions were somewhat archaic, taking place in various venues such as cafes or church halls. With the possibility of online sales and adjudication, potential buyers no longer have to travel. For the seller, the business is transacted smoothly and more rapidly.

Compared to Biddit.be, the joint-venture between Dewaele and Troostwij has two major avdantages. Firstly, with Dewaele real estate agencies, despite the use of the online bidding platform, both the marketing and the supervision of the sale are guaranteed to remain personal and proceed as with a classic sale. Secondly, Troostwijk not only brings an extensive network of curators – which it has developed in Belgium over the years – to the table, but also an international buyers audience.

Dewaele has more than 40 real estate agencies, most of them located in Flanders. Rece The group hrecently announced that it is scheduling an expansion of the number of offices it has in Belgium from 43 to 70 over the next five years. It has already been demonstrating its growth ambitions by undertaking a number of takeovers, thus strengtheningits position in Flanders and Brussels.