London takes lion’s share of European investment – CBRE
Expo Real gets under way today in Munich, where for the next three days more than 1,600 exhibitors from 34 countries will be discussing European commercial property markets. CBRE has issued new research to mark the event, showing that London is attracting high levels of investment as concerns continue about the eurozone. The Financial Times reports today that CBRE found more than £8bn was invested in London retail and office property during the 18 months to July – accounting for 39% of the £21bn total of inward investment into European commercial property during this period.
CBRE’s chief EMEA economist Peter Damesick said the research indicated that investors were not concerned about regulatory changes to the banking industry affecting London’s status as a financial centre. The FT notes that while features such as regular upward-only rent reviews and a highly liquid market have enhanced London’s attractiveness to property investors, the mix of investors has changed, with insurance, pension and sovereign wealth funds seeking long leases on already occupied buildings, in contrast to the opportunist investors that bought into the market during the boom. Investment interest in London has also sparked new developments, such as the Pinnacle on Bishopsgate, the paper points out.
Property Week reports that Savills expects the property lending landscape in Europe to change over the next six months as a result of new regulations and banks’ drive to reduce leverage. The firm has identified the top 16 ‘most active bigger ticket lenders’ in the UK commercial property market during the six months to June as Aareal, Aviva, Barclays, Bayern LB, Deka Bank, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Hypo, Deutsche Pfandbrief, Eurohypo, Helaba, ING REF, Landesbank Berlin, Met Life, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Societe Generale. Savills says it is significant that 12 of these 16 lenders are in the eurozone – it expects some of these to be replaced by UK lenders and has already noted increased activity from Clydesdale, Coutts, HSBC and Nationwide, as well as Sweden’s Handelsbanken. See here for Savills’ comments on active lenders a year ago.
