Demand for office space in London remained robust through the traditionally quiet first quarter of 2016 with 3.1 million square feet leased by companies, a new report shows.
Over a third (39%) of institutional investors - pension funds, insurance companies, Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) and banks - view sustainable asset selection as ‘critical’ or ‘one of the most important criteria’ when selecting properties to acquire, according to CBRE’s 2016 EMEA Investor Intentions Survey.
London, Los Angeles and Sydney Top Regional Targets to Investors
According to CBRE's Global Investor Intentions Survey 2016, real estate investors worldwide remain strongly expansionary in 2016, with more than $1 trillion of planned expenditures anticipated to enter global real estate markets--6 percent higher than in 2015.
Global commercial real estate (CRE) investment reached US$407 billion in H1 2015, the strongest first half to a year since 2007, and up 14 per cent year-over-year, according to the latest research from global property advisor CBRE Group, Inc.
Corporate real estate (CRE) investment within Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) increased in Q3 by 14%, to a record €2.297 billion, with total yearly volume up 6% according to the most recent report on CEE property investment from CBRE.
CBRE announced that it has closed the acquisition of Johnson Controls, Inc.’s Global Workplace Solutions business. Global Workplace Solutions is a market-leading provider of enterprise facilities management solutions for global corporations and other large occupiers of commercial real estate. Global Workplace Solutions had revenue of more than $3.0 billion in calendar year 2014.
Europe’s prime office market vacancy rate is expected to fall back to its 2009 level by the end of 2016 and then to continue declining over the rest of the decade, according to global real estate advisor, CBRE. In Europe’s major cities, office development is not keeping pace with growing demand driven by improving employment trends and almost all key office markets are expected to show falling vacancy rates and accelerated rental growth over the next five years.
According to CBRE's Global Investor Intentions Survey 2015, global real estate investors remain confident and their intentions are expansionary, with more than half planning to increase their acquisitions in 2015. Globally, 53 percent of investors plan to increase their purchases this year. Investor appetite for cross-regional acquisitions has increased significantly with 38 percent of respondents intending to invest outside their own region this year-up from 28 percent in 2014. Among these investors, 31 percent identified Western Europe as the top destination. Despite the slowdown in China, 27 percent of investors regarded Asia as their preferred investment destination, with economic growth there still outpacing other regions and continuing to offer significant long-term growth potential. London retained its position as the top city for investment, while other gateway cities such as Tokyo, Sydney, New York and Paris remained in the top ten. Second-tier cities saw an increase in investor interest in 2015, with Madrid, Dallas and Seattle all making the top ten. This reflects investors' search for more attractive yields, as well as greater knowledge and comfort with a larger number of global cities. There is also a marked increase in appetite among investors from Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and North America for value-add and opportunistic investments. In contrast, Asia Pacific saw a significant jump in investors preferring prime core assets at 43 percent in 2015, compared to 29 percent last year."The appetite for global real estate investment is increasing as more investors intend to deploy capital outside of their own region this year. Competition for assets is intensifying and many investors plan to move out the risk curve in search of higher yields-a trend that will result in a stronger focus on value-add and opportunistic investments. We believe that a low interest rate environment, economic expansion in an increasing number of markets, and corresponding improvement in real estate fundamentals will attract capital to commercial real estate," said Chris Ludeman, Global President, CBRE Capital Markets.Office and industrial remain the preferred asset classes, selected by 33 percent and 29 percent of investors respectively. Investor interest in industrial and logistics assets is being driven by the structural change in the retail sector and the growth of e-commerce; however, there is a limited supply of assets in this sector available for sale, meaning that investors will continue to face challenges when sourcing deals.Half of respondents identified asset pricing as the top obstacle to acquiring real estate assets. The tight availability of assets (21 percent) and competition from other investors (19 percent) were also identified as obstacles in all regions."The "new normal" economic environment of moderate growth, low interest rates and compressing bond yields continue to drive investment in commercial real estate. We also observe the continuing globalization of the investment market, reflected by the 40 percent y-o-y growth in cross-regional capital flows in 2014-a figure well above the growth rate for the market overall. The survey findings strengthen our view that overall volumes and cross-regional investment will increase in 2015," said Richard Barkham, Global Chief Economist, CBRE.
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