Anticipatory Management Of Strategic Risks As A Part Of Sustainable Management Of Housing Companies

A constantly rising importance of active risk management can be observed with regard to housing companies. Even small and medium-sized enterprises acting locally will not be able to withstand this trend. Due to the long life cycle of property assets it is particularly important that the risk management process is carried out in an anticipatory manner. A closer look on the process of risk management reveals that only the phase of risk control is open for input from entrepreneurial decisions. In this regard a strong interdependency exists between the applied corporate policy and the corporate risk management. Roughly spoken, there are two different ways to cope with an identified risk: the first one is to eliminate its cause, and the second one is to neutralise its effects. Preferably, measures eliminating the cause are taken into account first. Afterwards, for example, an insurance is procured or the risk is taken over by the company itself. The paper illustrates the interrelation between risk management on the one hand and the issues of sustainability in real estate on the other hand. The first part of the paper identifies and briefly discusses the risks associated with property assets during their entire life cycle. In the second part the energetic modernisation of the building stock and the customisation according to the special needs of several social groups are taken as examples to show that sustainable management ñ in terms of balancing economic, environmental and social issues - results in considerably lower overall risk for the operation of housing companies. This, in return, contributes to the long-term existence of the housing company; particularly within adverse market conditions. The target-oriented implementation of principles of sustainable management causes a demand for applicable tools and management methods. Therefore, the paper presents both possibilities that enable estimating and evaluating the future development of the building stock as well as a system to assess the matching between dwellingsí characteristics and attributes and the specific needs and requirements of different target groups.