New investment in Italy is being driven by weight of capital and not any change in fundamentals, a senior investor has warned.

New investment in Italy is being driven by weight of capital and not any change in fundamentals, a senior investor has warned.

‘Weight of capital is driving values, and the fundamentals aren’t really great,’ said Ron Rawald, head of European real estate for US private equity firm Cerberus, told PropertyEU's Italy Investment Briefing in London.

‘We’re not seeing runaway growth, we’re not seeing reductions in vacancy rates, we’re not seeing numbers of tenants expanding,’ he said.

Some €3.6 bn of foreign capital flowed into Italian property in 2013, more than twice the amount seen in 2012, according to recent figures from CBRE.

But, Rawald warned, ‘this interest is based on weight of capital and not on fundamentals and that makes me the most concerned about the market’.

For the opening presentatation and videos of the event, click on Italy Investment Briefing