Frédéric Lassale, associate and partner at VISCONTI Partners, welcomes today Stéphane Oria, Founding President of the Oria Group, an independent family group in the real estate sector, integrating the promotion and operation of managed residences.

Stéphane is now 43 years old, the group is almost thirteen, and its success is now national! But before he got there he was a top sportsman, rugby player more exactly.

A few words about Stéphane Oria

Stéphane is self-taught, he learned the tricks of the real estate business in the field. First of all in the single-family home sector, which requires several skills: selling, buying, managing and building.

He quickly understood that in order to master the entire chain, the main thing was the raw material, and therefore the land; which naturally oriented him to the real estate development business.

Today, Stéphane is at the head of a group of around 250 employees, present throughout the country through the promoter UNITI Habitat, and operating entities Aquarelia (seniors) and Hup (students)

Was this autodidact status a hindrance or an opportunity?

Stéphane believes that being self-taught was clearly an opportunity. Because this status gave him an immense desire to learn and a great motivation to move forward and dare to undertake.

Beyond a strong ambition, certain values have always guided Stéphane, and among them: the family. Because he is a business manager but also a father of a family. This desire to build is therefore also linked to a desire to leave an imprint and to transmit.

The Oria Group is therefore above all a family “story” in which each member shares this taste for work and entrepreneurship.

However, although Stéphane has a vision and brings general knowledge of the sector, he does not have all the expertise, and one of his personal challenges is therefore to know how to surround himself with the best and to build a solid team.

This is why Stéphane's professional career is similar to his sports career: he attaches a lot of importance to team spirit.

What are the values that allowed Stéphane to reach these first peaks in about ten years?

Her personal, family and professional career has been driven by simple values:

- Audacity: dare to undertake;

- Work: an essential basis for evolving, making the group progress and maintaining objectives;

- Loyalty: staying true to your commitments and values.

What is Stéphane's perspective on the current context of the real estate crisis and this situation which is having a direct impact on all households, but also on a large number of real estate and construction players?

As is often the case, this situation is the combination of several factors:

- An inflationary context that, since 2022, has caused an extremely rapid rise in interest rates, which has a strong impact on access to credit for a large part of the population;

- An increase in the cost of materials, mainly due to an increase in energy costs;

- The abandonment of certain tax exemption or investment assistance schemes.

All this despite an ever increasing need for production and access to housing. A shortage is then created with a demand for housing that is much greater than the supply.

Some figures for example: 2.4 million people are currently on the waiting lists for demand for social housing. To solve this problem, at least 600,000 social housing units would therefore have to be built.

Added to this is the shortage of student housing. At the same time, there was a drop in volumes of more than 30% in the first half of residential development. Things are not going in the right direction...

In this context, the Oria group, a leading player in affordable housing and residential development for all - is continuing to grow while many developers are forced to reorganize themselves in depth.

What is the secret? What are their fundamentals?

Their fundamentals can be summed up in four points:

- A historical position - since 2012 - on subsidized housing;

- A resilient economic model oriented towards bulk sales to leading institutional players;

- The integration of the residential path for all;

- Diversification into segments in which needs are increasingly important: senior service homes and student residences.

Stéphane often reminds us: the group is a promoter born out of the 2008 crisis.

What was the accelerator at that time? And what are they going to capitalize on the current crisis?

Stéphane created the group and initiated the first operation in 2012, just after the “subprime” crisis in 2008. Crises always create opportunities.

At that time Stéphane therefore started doing what others did not want to do,: build social housing. For this, the group benefited from the 2009 law that authorized social landlords to buy 100% of the programs from real estate developers.

Through the current crisis, the Oria group has the opportunity to strengthen its positioning. Because, in these difficult times, they have the most resistant model.

In fact, major institutional players (such as Action Logement and CDC Habitat) have just launched calls for expressions of interest for the acquisition of more than 50,000 subsidized homes.

Stéphane is convinced that there will also be numerous opportunities for the acquisition of files and for external growth. The sector will certainly consolidate.

What is Stéphane's vision in the medium term and how can the group respond to societal and environmental transformations in an unfavorable financial context today?

It is the role of the entrepreneur to anticipate these societal and environmental challenges on a daily basis. UNITI teams do this by building subsidized housing and setting up a residential development model accessible to the greatest number of people.

The group also does this through its diversification, thanks to which they respond to the problems of an aging population (by building residences adapted to the uses of seniors and their level of resources).

Also, with regard to students for whom the need is growing every year. Whatever the local configuration, the Oria group listens to the needs of the territory in order to implement adapted projects.

With regard to the environmental role, institutional players are pushing for the construction of increasingly efficient buildings and the group is anticipating regulatory and technological developments. To complete their ESG approach, they plan to become a “company with a mission” before the end of 2024.

In the current financial context, how do they fund their growth and operations?

The group operates in a very capitalistic sector of activity. Financing needs may in fact concern capital increases (balance sheet), the financing of working capital or that of real estate programs themselves. So a great diversity of operations, on which the group is monitored and trusted:

- From its historical shareholder partners such as PGIM, one of the leading real estate investment funds at the international level

- More recently institutional investors such as the Capssa pension fund, with whom long-term relationships are put into perspective

- A very diversified banking pool integrating all the reference players

- And finally, market confidence through the listing on the stock exchange on Euronext Growth

4 tips from partner coach Frédéric Lassale

Four essential points for the success of the Oria group:

- A resilient business model

- A perfectly aligned product/market couple

- A solid team

- Investor confidence