Commercial real estate investment in Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain - four of the economies most affected by the euro crisis - picked up during the second quarter of 2013, according to figures from CBRE.
Commercial real estate investment in Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain - four of the economies most affected by the euro crisis - picked up during the second quarter of 2013, according to figures from CBRE.
CBRE noted, however, that the recovery in property investment activity in these countries was from a low base.
The four markets reported a total investment volume of €2.5 bn in Q2 2013, up from less than €1 bn in the year-earlier period. Italy saw a particularly large jump, driven by the completion of two large transactions during the quarter. Together these four countries accounted for 8.5% of total European commercial real estate investment activity in Q2 2013, against 3.5% last year.
Greece, the fifth member of the PIIGS countries, did not register an improvement.
According to CBRE's latest figures, European commercial real estate investment totalled €31.1 bn in Q2 2013, an increase of 13% on the same quarter last year.
Germany continues to be one of the strongest investment markets in Europe, benefitting from both strong demand from domestic investors and growing interest from around the world. In aggregate, in the last four quarters, Germany has seen €28.4 bn of commercial real estate investment, an increase of 36% on the previous 12 months.
Sweden and Norway also made significant contributions to the growth in quarterly investment activity. Both countries have seen strong investment activity for several quarters now.
Property investment was at moderate levels relative to Q2 2012 in both the UK and France. In the case of the UK, the fall in activity was only 6.5%. In recent years, property investment in France has been strongly weighted toward the second half of the year.
Jonathan Hull, head of EMEA capital markets at CBRE, commented: 'This growth in commercial property investment activity comes at a time when other asset classes have been experiencing increased volatility due to concerns over the future of quantitative easing and further issues surrounding the euro. The FTSE All Share index fell by 11% from the middle of May to the end of June and the yield on 10-year German government bonds jumped from a low of 1.16% at the start of May to 1.82% near the end of June.'
