In a generally good first quarter for Europe, we saw better economic and financial market news and much improved confidence which started to produce a change in strategy, with parts of the investment community going “risk-on”. However, starting with Italy’s indecisive election and moving on to the Cypriot “bank sweep”, confidence has been dented in [...]
European investment markets saw a relatively strong end to last year according to our recent research. In fact volumes rose 19% compared to the final quarter of 2011 and were at their strongest since 2007. What’s more this was accompanied by a stabilisation in prime yields and a notable uptick in investor confidence. But is [...]
The third quarter of 2012 was not great for the European office sector with leasing and investment activity down and rental growth reversing. However anyone expecting a smooth, demand-driven recovery was pretty much waiting to be disappointed – the road back to any sort of normality was always going to be bumpy and unpredictable. Looking [...]
Forget Spain for now, events in Greece over the next few days will be setting the tone for Europe for better or for worse. Greek voters go back to the polls on Sunday and clearly face a tough choice, caught between a rock and a hard place. Surveys have suggested growing support for pro-bailout parties [...]
After a cold and wet start, the sun came out at MIPIM to light-up the launch of our International Investment Atlas last week. The Atlas looks at 2012 trends but also reviews the year gone by and as we commented, the raw statistics on 2011 make it look like a pretty good year – global [...]
Occupier and investor activity in the global property market largely held up in the third quarter – but what are we likely to see in the next few months? Sentiment has certainly become more cautious, which is hardly surprising given the volatility of financial markets and the uncertainty most of us are feeling over the [...]
At a time when retail sales in much of Europe are failing to stage the kind of recovery hoped for and consumer sentiment is lagging that seen in corporate Europe, it may seem odd that property investors are pouring money into retail rather than office or industrial property Investment by Sector in EMEA [...]
So as the dust settles on another MIPIM, what messages did it send out? On the whole, I would say positive ones. Attendances were up 5-10%, (despite a couple of high profile no-shows!) and the mood more upbeat, with even Dr Nouriel Roubini finding some “upside risks” to discuss in his keynote speech on the [...]
A lot of the European investment market had to endure a slow summer as buyers and sellers worried about sovereign debt, austerity plans, double dips, inflation and anything else that hit the headlines! However while investment in the third quarter fell back – by 13% on Q2 – the final few months of the year [...]
At AFIRE’s annual membership meeting in Chicago the atmosphere was upbeat, with most all presenters (even Sam Zell) bullish on real estate, but keeping an eye on the deficit, the pace of job growth and de-levering challenges. Investors were generous with praise for the US Fed for keeping rates low enough to carry properties through [...]