Aberdeen Property Investors 'ready to strike'

Aberdeen Property Investors is ready to capitalise on the current favourable market conditions for equity-rich players, Alessandro Bronda, head of investment strategy at the company, said in an interview at the EXPO REAL fair in Munich.

‘We have equity, we have capacity to buy assets. We can buy at good prices and there is less competition for these assets. This is the time the big money is going to be made,’ said Bronda.

However, he warned that despite the mood of cautious optimism at EXPO REAL that recovery is on the way, there are still signs that the road ahead will be bumpy. 'I will only feel really confident when I hear news of companies creating jobs and not destroying jobs,’ he said.

As far as market recovery is concerned, Bronda identified Oslo as the only European market which has bottomed out while he expects markets in Germany and the Benelux to bottom out in the first quarter of 2010. The situation in Spain is more problematic and Central and Eastern European (CEE) markets will have to wait for the boost provided by recovery among their western neighbours.

Regarding the German market, Bronda said more clarity was needed on issues such as transparency and pricing. ‘We have some doubts about whether the IPD reflects the value of the market. Two years ago it was not as overvalued as some other markets and was more sensibly priced, but Germany needs to re-price a bit more now.’ He noted that there should be a 10-15% price decline in the country’s six major cities.