DTZ: Non-European investors shift to France, CEE and periphery

Non-European investors focussed relatively more on France, CEE and peripheral markets in Q1, according to DTZ.

Over the three-month period, total European volume came to €32.2 bn, an 11% increase on the same period last year. In its latest investment market update for Europe, DTZ Research claims the volume for the first three months of this year was the highest Q1 figure since 2008, and confirms the continued recovery in Europe’s markets.

Magali Marton, head of CEMEA research at DTZ and co-author of the report, said the UK remained the most active market in Q1, with €11.2 bn of transactions recorded, a 38% increase on Q1 2013. The rebound in activity was even more significant in Germany as volumes reached €9.4 bn, marking a 43% increase year-on-year.

'In comparison the French market posted a modest 8% increase to €3.8 bn. Outside of the three core markets, the peripheral markets (namely Ireland, Italy and Spain) continued to attract cross-border capital flows as investment volume more than doubled in one year to reach €2.6 bn in Q1 2014,' Marton added.

There were numerous deals above €500 mln in Q1 2014 totalling €4.6 bn in value. This helped push the average deal size to €32 mln, above the Q4 2013 average of €30 mln and €28 mln in the same period a year ago.

Nigel Almond, head of strategy research, said that cross-border investment remained strong, representing 43% (€13.9 bn) of investment in Q1. A solid 30% of all Q1 2014 European investment, or €9.6 bn, represented inflows from outside of Europe.

Almond: 'The most unexpected result was that the highest share of non-European investment for individual countries was recorded by France (47%), CEE (44%) and the peripheral markets (41%). By contrast Germany (27%) and the UK (30%) saw a smaller share. We suspect this might be partially driven by opportunistic fund managers, which have raised significant investment capital.'

For the full report, click here