Belgian activity lifts Benelux investment volumes

Belgium's long dormant real estate investment market stirred in July to end-September and helped buoy volumes for the entire Benelux region.

The largest reported transaction involved local institutional investors Integrale and Ogeo buying the Gutenberg building in Brussels for EUR 122 mln. And, Dutch developer Wilma Project Development bought the Antwerp Tower from a Dutch family for EUR 43 mln.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle, the investment volume for offices shot up 140% quarter-on-quarter to EUR 309 mln - bringing the total for the year-to-date to EUR 436 mln. Nevertheless this was 43% below the EUR 764 mln volume in the same period last year.

Prime yields remained unchanged at 6%.

Belgium's performance coupled with Union Investment's acquisition of the K Point scheme in Luxembourg for EUR 75 mln, and retail-led activity in the Netherlands kept the Benelux volume relatively stable. CBRE has estimated a volume of EUR 1.28 bn for the region in Q3, just 6% down on the same period last year.

And, Savills is on record as expecting more significant deals before year-end in Belgium.

Gregory Martin, managing director at Savills Belgium, commented: 'Many transactions which have been delayed due to new tax measures should close during the second half of 2012 and into 2013 and we therefore expect investment levels in the office sector to see an increase in H2 compared to H1 2012. In the office segment many international investors adopted a wait-and-see attitude during H1 2012 despite Belgium releasing a sound set of macroeconomic data compared to some other European countries.'

The property adviser reported that Belgian commercial property market recorded total investment turnover in the 2012 first half of EUR 1.1 bn, representing 78% of the total volume achieved in 2011 (EUR 1.5 bn).

The real estate adviser predicts that total turnover for 2012 will reach approximately EUR 2 bn, which is an increase of 33% on the figure achieved last year.