Tag Archives: real-estate
Spain is top target for commercial real estate investors in Europe, new poll shows
Active commercial real estate investors see Spain as the top investment target in Europe for next year as values are still below peak, new research suggests. This is a sign of the Spanish commercial market’s recovery, with Germany following close and Germany is next on the list, according to a poll of investors carried out by international real estate firm Knight Frank. ‘The fundamental rationale behind investing in Spain is even stronger than this time last year. Prime CBD office rents have risen by 20% over the past 12 months, but remain nearly 40% below the 2008 peak, and both footfall and sales have been increasing in dominant shopping centres for six consecutive quarters,’ said Humphrey White, head of Capital Markets at Knight Frank Spain. At the same time some 25.4% chose Germany as their preferred target and Knight Frank says that the results mirror the buoyant investment activity seen in the country, with a total of €30 billion invested in property during the first half of 2015, an increase of 35% compared to the first half of 2014. According to Joachim von Radecke, head of German Desk at Knight Frank in London, the increase is driven by the rising flow of foreign capital into the country and the 50% increase of domestic investor activity. ‘Foreign investors’ share of the German market continues to grow, and now accounted for almost 60% of all transactions in the first half of 2015. We saw the usual trend towards the big five markets of Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg and Düsseldorf, with 78% of total office transactions recorded in these cities,’ he added. The UK also featured strongly in this year’s poll, attracting 17.4% of the votes, on the back of the continuing recovery which has now extended to the UK regions. ‘The UK is well ahead of the rest of Europe in terms of the property cycle and has already seen significant yield compression,’ said Chris Bell, managing director of Europe at Knight Frank. ‘However, it is encouraging that rental growth is beginning to re-emerge more widely across Europe, helped by the strengthening of occupier demand and the steadily falling availability of good quality space exacerbated by the lack of development over the preceding recessionary years,’ he added. Continue reading
Falling property prices make Dubai a more mature real estate market
Falling property prices in Dubai are not totally bad news as it will make the emirate’s real estate market more mature, a new analysis report says. The report from international real estate firm Knight Frank explains how over the past decade, Dubai has been on a real estate rollercoaster ride of boom, crash and recovery. Indeed, property values halved between 2008 and 2010, but then rose phoenix like from the desert to regain most of their losses by 2014. However, the rallying prices of 2013 and 2014 set off the alarm so authorities had to react to prevent a market boom and crash cycle. At this point Dubai’s market regulators, wielding mortgage caps and a doubling of transaction fees, stepped in to reduce speculation and the report points out that this combined with other factors such as deteriorating oil prices, currency fluctuations and a series of economic and political failures in different parts of world, means lower levels of demand from most regional and international group of buyers looking to purchase properties in Dubai. On top of this there has been an excess of new build supply and the net impact has been a 12% fall in mainstream property prices over the 12 months to June 2015. ‘Nevertheless, falling prices are not totally bad news. With the government stepping in to curb speculative activity through tightening mortgage regulations and capping price increments, it is evident that lessons has been learnt from the 2008 downturn and the market is heading steadily to be more mature and better controlled,’ says the report. ‘More interestingly, with price falls continuing to outpace rental value declines, initial yields are rising. Reaching more than 7% in rental yields in the mainstream property segment, Dubai still stands tall among real estate capitals in the world for investor seeking income generating properties,’ it adds. It also points out that the rate of decline in prime residential prices of 4.5% in the year to June 2015 was smaller compared to the mainstream segment while in sub-markets, the picture is a bit more positive as well. In demand areas are mostly in the prime segment including villas, townhouses and apartments in the Palm, Emirates Hills, Dubai Marina and Downtown for example. ‘Even during the 2008 downturn, prime properties saw lower levels of declines compared to less established areas,’ Diaa Noufal, of the MENA research unit at Knight Frank Dubai office. The report also looks at the wider region. In Qatar foreigners have been able to buy property since 2004, although restricted to a few specific areas. Demand has been rising, albeit with a slowdown this year following the oil price crash and regional instability. Buyers tend to be residents of countries within the Gulf Cooperation Council, although the number of European buyers is rising. Demand for Oman property from across the Middle East and from India and Pakistan has risen in recent years. Knight Frank says this is partly due to… Continue reading
UK property sales exceed 100,000 for third month in a row
Residential property sales in the UK were at their highest in August for 18 months, according to the latest data published by HMRC. It means that more homes were sold in in August than in any month since February last year with the seasonally adjusted data showing 106,480 transaction during the month. It is the third month in a row that sales of more than 100,000 were recorded, however, sales are still well below the monthly sales of nearly 150,000 seen during the housing boom in 2006. The seasonally adjusted estimate of the number of residential property transactions increased by 3.1% between July 2015 and August 2015 and that is 5.7% higher compared with the same month last year. For August 2015 the number of non-adjusted residential transactions was 7.4% lower compared with July 2015. The number of non-adjusted residential transactions was 1.9% lower than in August 2014. Peter Rollings, chief executive officer of Marsh & Parsons, said that taking into account seasonal adjustment, property sales are going from strength to strength, and showing great improvement from this time last year. ‘With the spectre of higher interest rates being kept at bay, buyer demand is in full swing and summer sales have continued to blossom in August. After slightly fewer home sales than we would expect in a typical July, buyers last month were showing a new enthusiasm and readiness to enter the market,’ he pointed out. ‘The changes to stamp duty are still washing over London and cooling activity at the topmost tiers of the housing market. But overall demand for property in the capital hasn’t waned, as young professionals and first time buyers continue to seek out up and coming areas to put down roots,’ he explained. ‘The subsequent squeeze on available property for sale in the capital should keep pushing house price growth along well into the autumn,’ he added. Continue reading
