Warsaw ranks second for investment in Europe: CBRE

Warsaw is the second-most attractive city for investment in Europe after London, according to CBRE’s latest Real Estate Investor Intentions survey released on Wednesday.

The survey, completed by more than 340 leading property investors, provides insights into investor sentiment towards international real estate markets and forecasts activity for the year ahead.

The No. 2 score of the Polish capital, right after London and before Paris, Munich and Berlin, presents an optimistic outlook for developers and investors engaged in the Polish market, as well as those intending to make an entry, said Colin Waddell, managing director of CBRE for Poland. ‘The position of Warsaw among the most desired property investment destinations in Europe reflects Poland’s well-deserved perception of a market with strong underlying fundamentals, able to weather global and European economic volatility,’ he said.

London emerged head and shoulders above other named cities as the top target for investors in Europe, with 37% of investors pinpointing it as the premier investment destination in Europe in 2012. Warsaw, backed by 12% of investors, was followed by Paris in third position (9%), reflecting the high level of investment activity there in 2011, before the German cities of Munich (8%) and Berlin (7%).

In terms of countries or entire regions, the CBRE survey found that the UK is the most attractive real estate market for investment in Europe for nearly a third (31%) of investors – very close to its position in 2010, but up significantly from 16% in 2011.Germany was the second-most attractive market, selected by 27% of investors, followed by Central and Eastern European (CEE) markets with 19%.

France recorded lower investor attraction than in 2011, while the proportion of investors choosing Spain as the most attractive market dropped from 9% in 2011 to 3.5% this year. Italy was favoured by only 2.5% of respondents. Conversely, the attraction of the (mostly non-euro) Nordic markets increased: chosen by 8% of respondents as the most attractive for real estate investment this year compared with 5% last year.