Europe: Foreign investors particularly active
In 2015, 259 billion euros were invested in real estate in Europe, according to an analysis by BNP Paribas Real Estate. That is 17 percent more than in the previous year. More than half of the turnover was attributable to foreign investors.
The total investment volume in Europe amounted to 259 billion euros in 2015. The share of total sales accounted for by office properties decreased slightly from 46 percent to 44 percent, but the absolute transaction volume rose by 17 percent. The development was boosted by large deals, whose share rose from 45 percent (2014) to currently 48 percent.
Foreign investors accounted for a good half of investment turnover (52 %). American investors in particular continue to focus on the European commercial real estate market; their share of foreign investment volume was around one-third. Around 61 percent of investments from the USA went to the UK and Germany, and ten percent each to France and Southern Europe. According to BNP Paribas Real Estate, 700 million euros were invested in Swiss properties last year.
"Europe is attracting the largest volume of international capital in the world, pushing foreign investment to new record highs," says Céline Cotasson-Fauvet, Head of European Analysis at BNP Paribas Real Estate. "Investors from the U.S. remain the most important and active investors in Europe. They are generally more willing to take risks than other investors from abroad. This is definitely not going to change." (ah)
