Increased availability of stock in five major European markets has pushed up volumes to the highest level since 2007, preliminary numbers from JLL indicate.
Increased availability of stock in five major European markets has pushed up volumes to the highest level since 2007, preliminary numbers from JLL indicate.
According to the preliminary update, full-year retail investment volumes for 2014 will be in the region of €37 bn, marking a 39% increase over the €26.6 bn recorded in 2013. The rise was fuelled by the return of Spain and Italy to the core retail investment markets in 2014, JLL said. They joined the UK, Germany and France as the top five markets in 2014, accounting for around 80% of total volumes.
Commenting on the figures, Jeremy Eddy, Director, European Retail Capital Markets at JLL said: 'Investment activity was healthy throughout 2014 as the availability of stock increased, going someway to satisfy the latent demand from capital that has been targeting the sector for the last 24 months. However a significant push in the latter part of 2014 driven by volume of equity coupled with increasingly aggressive debt finance, lifted volumes to a record level.'
Eddy is also upbeat on prospects for 2015: 'A review of the JLL deal pipeline suggests that there will be no let-up in this momentum in 2015, certainly in the first half of the year.'
The figures include all investment sales of shopping centres, retail warehouses and factory outlet centres in Europe. It excludes the high street and any investment deal less than US$5 mln (€4.3 mln) in value.
