A surge of activity by European real estate investors in the last quarter of 2009 pushed the aggregate volume for the year to over EUR 64 bn, according to updated figures from PropertyEU Research. Almost 80% of the total comprised of transactions of EUR 50 mln-plus.

A surge of activity by European real estate investors in the last quarter of 2009 pushed the aggregate volume for the year to over EUR 64 bn, according to updated figures from PropertyEU Research. Almost 80% of the total comprised of transactions of EUR 50 mln-plus.

PropertyEU Research has been tracking large European investment transactions on a daily basis since mid-2006. The 2009 data shows the upswing occurred across all the main Western European markets, though the big three - the UK, Germany and France - attracted the majority of the investment.

In December, PropertyEU reported a provisional European total of EUR 51 bn in the year to 25 November.

Germans feature prominently in PropertyEU's ranking of the top 10 cross-border investors in European real estate. German fund manager Union Investment tops the ranking with an investment volume of EUR 1.6 bn. The Hamburg-based firm purchased 18 properties and projects for its six open-ended retail and special funds in 2009. The other German fund players in the top 10 are Deka Immobilien (just over EUR 1 bn); RREEF (EUR 793 mln) and Commerz Real (EUR 749 mln).

The top investors' ranking was very different in 2008. Goldman Sachs (Whitehall Funds) topped the list that year with an investment volume of EUR 5.1 bn. The funds did not carry out any major investments in 2009. Sweden's AP Fastigheter was also quiet in 2009 after a deal of EUR 4.3 bn the year before put it in second place.

Last year ING Reim, one of the largest global property investment managers, invested EUR 335 mln, while Klépierre spent just EUR 76 mln, according to PropertyEU research. The decline follows investments of at least EUR 2.2 bn and EUR 1.6 bn respectively in 2008.

Deka Immobilien was one of the few big investors to almost match its 2008 figure. The German fund manager invested EUR 1 bn in Europe in 2009 compared to EUR 1.4 bn in 2008, according to PropertyEU Research.

The full 2009 investment update appears in the January/February edition of PropertyEU Magazine published on 2 February.