Two large Swedish transactions agreed this week are further evidence of recovery, as the Nordic market continues to pick up.
As in the UK, which repriced faster than other European real estate markets, the Nordics 'saw overall improved transaction markets across the region in May as 67 deals totalled €2.5 bn, the highest volume and deal count in 2024,' Colliers Research says in its latest monthly regional report.
The volume year to date in the whole region is now 22%+ ahead of the same period in 2023 with Sweden especially noticeably busier.
Last week, Catena's €210 mln acquisition of a 180,000 m2 logistics property was the largest of 29 Swedish deals in May while close behind was Alecta's €187 mln purchase of a 36,400 m2 office complex in a northern suburb of Stockholm.
The improvement suggests that last year - the lowest transaction volume in a decade - will indeed be the low point of this economic cycle. The market will be hoping that the ECB's 0.25% cut in interest rates this week - the first cut for five years - will turn out to have marked the passing of the interest rate peak.
Private equity firms announced several deals: Blackstone bought more single family homes for its growing UK portfolio, spending £580 mln; BentallGreenOak invested a further €350 mln in European data centres; and TPG Angelo Gordon picked up a mixed-use block in central Berlin for repositioning.
There were logistics transactions in two of Europe's most desirable locations, with Deka selling French warehouses in Saint-Witz, north east Paris, and Brie-Comte-Robert, south east Paris, to Boreal IM and Ontario Teachers, and Catella buying another distribution centre on the Dutch/Belgian border.
All but one of the six new assets put up for sale are in the UK, including residential in Canary Wharf and two regional office properties. One of the UK offices is an Edinburgh trophy put up for sale by Hines. The largest attraction is another disposal by bust DACH giant Signa, Upper West, a 43,700 m2 tower in Berlin.
There are no new funds raising capital. But there were several chunky cross-border financings, two of them for logistics portfolios, with LaSalle's LREDS IV fund providing €150 mln to Brookfield and two banks writing a €200 mln loan for Goodman.
