Europe's real estate investment markets have had their best second quarter in five years, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
Europe's real estate investment markets have had their best second quarter in five years, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
The international broker reported that €32 bn of product changed hands in Europe from April to end-June this year, the strongest second quarter since 2007. A strong second half of the year could result in a total volume of €142 bn.
Cushman & Wakefield suggests this is possible as demand and activity remained high in Europe’s commercial property market in the second quarter despite jitters in global stock and bond markets. Investors, the broker said, expanded their buying horizons, took on more risk and pushed up pricing in the process during Q2..
Activity was 4% down on the opening quarter but year-on-year volumes rose 8.6%, with foreign buyers crucial in most areas as they boosted spending by 15% versus a 5% rise in domestic activity.
Larger lots are most in demand among the global pension, insurance and sovereign wealth funds who are driving the market and the big 3 of France, Germany and the UK continue to dominate activity overall, taking 62% of all monies invested in the quarter.
However their market share has slipped as a wide range of other locations have come to the fore, with southern Europe up 94% on the quarter, Benelux up by 70% and the Nordics by 30%.
Reviewing the figures, Jan Willem Bastijn, head of capital markets at Cushman & Wakefield, EMEA said: 'Many investors are still heavily focussed on core markets but more and more are looking further afield for opportunities, with Central & Eastern Europe strong in the first quarter for example but some of the distressed Club Med markets bouncing back in the last quarter, led in particular by some notable office deals.'
'With more equity buyers coming into the market and debt somewhat easier to obtain, this is only likely to accelerate after the summer and we’re now forecasting a year-end trading volume up 5% at €142 bn versus our estimate of €136 bn made at the start of the year,' concluded Bastijn.
