Aviva Investors

The Pandemic has had systemic consequences for places and how people use them. Covid-19 has accelerated change in existing trends. It has also created new ones.

Aviva Investors, the global asset management business of Aviva plc has sought to build these thematic changes into its investment process. The speed of change made decision-making complex. Trends that unfolded over years changed shape in days.

The main challenge for Aviva Investors was how to stay informed on market shifts. Conventional indicators report monthly at best. Other data lacked the detail to be useful. Aviva Investors needed access to high-frequency data with granular capabilities.

As one of the largest European real assets investment managers, Aviva Investors looked for data that reflected how much activity is taking place in different parts of the economy. Key metrics centre on how people use places, and how that changes with time. Topics include the measurement of pedestrian footfall levels, store-visits and workplace presence.

Huq Industries offers effective measurement of these KPIs through its macro indicators outputs. This mobility-derived product allows for comparisons by sub-market, or industry, and geographic region. Huq’s mobility data has full timestamp coverage. This enables its macro indicators to be published daily with a 48-hour lag. These attributes make it ideal for measuring fast-paced change in great detail.

Over the last 15 months Huq has supported Aviva Investors in its analysis of UK and European Real Asset spatial trends. Aviva Investors draws on 30+ verified indices from Huq Industries’ Macro Indicators catalogue. Sectors measured are as diverse as waste plants, hotels, data centres and airports. In addition, regional outputs contrast office usage across 16 major cities on 3 continents. Huq’s measurement platform for cities and retail, provides Footfall and Catchment Area data and how that changes with time.

Aviva Investors used Huq’s Macro Indicators and footfall solutions to track changes in behaviour during the pandemic. The frequent and granular data helps to inform their decision-making. Insights derived from Huq’s mobility solutions form the basis of research and articles written by Aviva Investors’ research team for their investment partners.

“Huq’s mobility data allows us to measure footfall, almost in real time, by submarket and by region. The data helps us to make better investment decisions and allows us to appropriately manage risk on behalf of our investor clients”.