Tag Archives: real-estate
European commercial property markets sees 30% growth year on year
The European commercial property investment market has continued to gain positive momentum, with transaction volumes reaching €104.9 billion in the first half of 2015. This was a 29% increase on the same period of 2014 and investment volumes for 2015 are forecast to reach €230 billion, which would make it comfortably the best year since the market peak of 2007. The data from the analysis report from international real estate firm Knight Frank shows that increased investment volumes were recorded in the first six months of the year across a wide range of markets, in both the core and the periphery of Europe. The continent’s two largest markets, the UK and Germany, performed strongly in the first half of the year, providing a significant boost to overall deal volumes. The UK is on course for a record breaking year for investment, while the German market has been buoyed the strong performances of Frankfurt and Berlin. The analysis report shows that the revival of activity in Europe’s peripheral countries has continued, as investors move up the risk curve and seek value in non-core markets. Spain and Ireland, which have led the peripheral market recovery over the last 18 months, continue to attract heightened levels of investment, but the most impressive increases in activity during the first half of the year came in Italy and Portugal. It also shows that the weight of money targeting commercial property has led to widespread yield compression, and prime office yields hardened in cities such as Amsterdam, Lisbon, Madrid, Milan and Paris during the second quarter of 2015. Knight Frank’s European weighted average prime office yield moved in to 4.9%, its lowest level since the third quarter of 2007. While investment activity is buoyant in the large majority of European markets, occupier market trends remain more varied. Rental growth was patchy in the second quarter with Dublin, Madrid and Vienna being among the small number of European markets to record increases in prime office rents. However, rental growth is anticipated to become more prevalent in the medium term, on the back of the improving European economy and falling availability levels, particularly for CBD offices. ‘Investment volumes continue to be driven upwards by the strong international demand for European commercial property, particularly from US investors, and by the increasing number of large portfolio deals,’ said Andrew Sim, head of European Capital Markets at Knight Frank. ‘These trends are expected to continue over the rest of the year, and we forecast that annual European investment in 2015 will be more than 20% up on 2014. European transaction volumes are approaching the levels seen at the market peak of 2007, and several countries may well set new records this year,’ he added. According to Matthew Colbourne, associate with the Knight Frank international research team, European occupier markets continue to see mixed trends, in contrast to the widespread buoyancy of investment markets. ‘Office take-up increased strongly in the key German and Spanish markets… Continue reading
Property sales in Canada up slightly month on month, latest data shows
Residential sales in Canada increased slightly by 0.3% month on month in August and transactions were up 4% compared to a year ago, the latest index shows. The data from the Canadian Real Estate Association also shows that the number of newly listed homes for sale increased by 0.5% while prices are up 8.7% year on year but this drops to 4.2% when Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto are taken out of the calculation. ‘August marked the fourth month in a row for strong and stable national sales activity, While home prices increased in British Columbia and in the Greater Toronto area, they have been holding fairly steady in many other parts of the country for some time now,’ said CREA President Pauline Aunger. The figures also shows that prices continue to rise in Ontario and British Columbia, where listings are either in short supply or heading in that direction. August also provided early evidence that modest price growth is re-emerging in some markets in Quebec and New Brunswick. ‘The continuation of low interest rates is supporting home sales and price trends, and is likely to keep doing so for some time,’ said Gregory Klump, CREA’s chief economist. Actual activity in August was up 4% from the same month last year and it was the third highest August sales figure on record after 2005 and 2007, and 6.6% above the 10 year average for August. Actual sales were up from year ago levels in a little over 60% of all local markets, led by the lower mainland region of British Columbia and the Greater Toronto Area. Sales in Calgary continued to post the largest year on year declines after having run near record levels there last year. The number of months of inventory, regarded as an important measure of the balance between housing supply and demand, was 5.6 on a national basis at the end of August, unchanged from the previous three months and holding at a three year low. Year on year price growth picked up in August for all home types tracked by the index with the exception of townhouse/row units. Two storey single family homes continue to post the biggest year on year price rise at 8.85% followed by single storey single family homes at 6.09%, townhouse/row units at 4.29% and apartment units up 3.08%. Year on year price growth varied among housing markets tracked by the index. Greater Vancouver with growth of 11.96% and Greater Toronto up 9.99%, continue to post by far the biggest year on year price increases. By comparison, year on year price growth in the Fraser Valley was 7% while Victoria and Vancouver Island recorded 5% growth. Prices in Calgary were flat on a year on year basis, the first month since September 2011 of no annual price growth while prices in Saskatoon also ran roughly even with year ago levels. Elsewhere, home prices were up from August 2014 levels by 1.5% in Ottawa but fell by… Continue reading
Residential property sales reach a seven year high in Scotland
Home sales reach in Scotland reached a seven year high in July and prices increased by 0.4% compared to the previous month, the latest index data shows. Overall sales were up 6% but annual price growth slipped 0.1%, taking the average house price to £165,162, according to the Your Move index. The report says that the jump in sales is due to buyers capitalising on lower stamp duty under the new Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) which was introduced in April of this year. Activity is growing at a time when the supply of new build housing in Scotland reached its highest level since 2010/2011 but there is some hesitation at the higher end of the market which the report says is the reason why prices are now overall 0.1% lower than a year ago. ‘Activity has been picking up speed in recent months. Lower stamp duty for purchases below £325,000 under the (LBTT) first got the ball moving in April. Since then, the conclusion of the general election, supply of new build homes and the favourable mortgage rate environment have only added to this momentum,’ said Christine Campbell, Your Move managing director in Scotland. ‘After a slightly sluggish start to 2015, sales in the first seven months are exceeding those in 2014. It’s the middle and lower end of the housing market where the tempo is really quickening,’ she added. Indeed, the data shows that Stirling saw the biggest leap in property sales month on month in July, up 49%, with the most commonly sold properties flats. ‘Across Scotland overall we’re witnessing fewer top end home sales in 2015 than in 2014, due to the steeper transaction costs now incurred. The proportion of homes in Scotland sold for more than £325,000 has fallen from 9.2% of all property sales in July 2014, to just 7.8% a year later under the revised taxation system,’ said Campbell. ‘At the same time, there’s been a lot of propulsion emanating from the first time buyer market, feeding off a flurry of new build housing. Our analysis shows that the average price of a first-time buyer property has risen 6% from the second quarter of 2014 to the second quarter of 2015 as a result of this burgeoning demand,’ she explained. The data also show that total supply of new build housing in Scotland has reached its highest level since 2010/2011. Glasgow saw the biggest rise in new homes built in the past year followed by Aberdeenshire and Edinburgh, helping these areas become the first port of call for many new buyers looking to climb onto the property ladder. ‘With housing market activity mostly concentrated at the lower rungs of the property ladder, and a dearth of top end property purchases, overall Scottish house prices have dropped marginally year on year. As of July 2015, average house prices in Scotland are down 0.1% annually, equivalent to falling £176 in 12… Continue reading
