As an award-winning and highly respected leader in the real estate sector, Madison Berkeley has always approached recruitment with a focus on relationships, insight, and expertise. For our latest Catching Up With feature, we sat down with Freddie Owen, Equity Partner at Kimmre, to discuss his journey from growing up in a property family to building a successful career in investment agency. Freddie shares the lessons learned from 14 years at Knight Frank, why he made the move to a more entrepreneurial environment, and why he believes geopolitics and AI will shape the future of the industry.
Property was always part of the picture
For Freddie, real estate was never far away. His father ran Liverpool-based property firm Mason Owen & Partners, meaning property was a constant topic of conversation growing up. “You couldn’t really escape property,” he says. “Wherever you went with my dad, he’d be looking at buildings, taking detours to inspect sites or calling in details of shops as he drove past.” Despite this, Freddie initially pursued a different path. After studying Economics at Cambridge, he joined Deutsche Bank in private wealth management before quickly realising it wasn’t the right fit.
“I think I was trying to push away from property and do something different,” he says. He returned to Cambridge to complete a postgraduate degree in Real Estate Finance before joining Knight Frank’s graduate scheme in 2010.
From Knight Frank to Kimmre
Freddie spent 14 years at Knight Frank, building his career in capital markets and working alongside some of the industry’s leading professionals. “I absolutely loved most of it,” he says. “I worked with brilliant people, learned a huge amount and had a lot of fun.” After the pandemic, however, he began looking for something different. “I wanted more control over what I did, more flexibility and the opportunity to work on a wider range of deals.” That led him to Kimmre, where he joined as an Equity Partner. The move also enabled him to become more involved in helping grow and support his family’s business following the passing of his father. “It’s something I simply wouldn’t have been able to do at Knight Frank,” he says.
A career-defining deal
When asked about the most memorable transaction of his career, Freddie points to the sale of approximately £500 million worth of car parks for Blackstone. The deal involved around 90 assets and was significantly larger than the firm’s typical day-to-day transactions at the time. “It was such a big transaction and a hugely collaborative effort,” he says. “Working with a great client and a brilliant team made it a really memorable experience.” Yet Freddie is quick to point out that size isn’t everything. “Some of the smallest deals can be the most challenging and rewarding,” he says. “What interests me is how markets work, how buyers think and how value can be created by seeing something differently to everyone else.”
Why relationships still matter
At Kimmre, Freddie believes the firm’s partner-led model is what sets it apart. Clients work directly with experienced advisers who focus on delivering outcomes rather than passing work through layers of an organisation. “Ultimately, clients want two things: good advice and deliverable deals,” he says. That philosophy is rooted in something Freddie believes has always been central to real estate: relationships. “Property remains a people business,” he says. “People do business with people they like and trust.”
Lessons learned along the way
The biggest lesson from Freddie’s career is surprisingly simple. “Never get too high and never get too low.” He describes investment agency as a profession built on resilience, where rejection is part of everyday life and success often comes after countless setbacks. “I don’t know many professions where you face as much rejection as investment agency,” he says. “You’re constantly hearing ‘no’ and searching for the person who wants to do something.” His advice to those entering the industry reflects the same mindset. “Work hard and care about what you do.” While technical skills can be learned, Freddie believes attitude remains one of the strongest indicators of future success. “If you’ve got a good attitude, you’re halfway there.”
Looking ahead
Looking to the future, Freddie believes geopolitics and artificial intelligence will be the two defining forces shaping the next decade of property investment. Political decisions, taxation and government policy will continue to influence markets, while AI is already transforming the way businesses operate. “It’s already happening,” he says. “AI will cut costs, improve efficiency and help businesses grow. On the agency side it will improve data and advice, while on the client side it will help investors understand their portfolios far better.” Despite the rapid pace of change, Freddie believes technology won’t replace the industry’s most important asset: people. “Technology will improve the way we work, but relationships will continue to drive transactions,” he says. “The two biggest forces shaping the next decade will be geopolitics and AI. We’ve got a very interesting five years ahead of us.”
