Juxtaposing Five European CRE Markets: Which One's For You?
Wall Street Journal reports: In a recent Real Estate-section Wall Street Journal by-line column, Javier Espinoza produced a primer to “…the opportunities and pitfalls of investing and living” in Europe’s most desirable locations. His prior for the article was that although many market-watchers predict a fairly lackluster year for European commercial real estate in 2011, there is still tremendous demand for top-end assets in leading markets. The article provided a profile of five top destinations, including Barcelona, Berlin, London, Paris, and Rome.
Of Barcelona, Mr Espinoza stated that the city retained its top ranking in quality-of-life surveys and has several characteristics such as good infrastructure and weather on its side. Quoting data aggregated by Real Capital Analytics (RCA), “…there were £1.7 billion worth of retail transactions in Barcelona between 2007 and 2010…an indicator of a highly active market.”
Berlin has pushed to the head of the line in terms of doing business globally, ranking highly in terms of qualified, available staff and ease of access to markets. The city also has a vibrant, fashionable social environment, which encouraged RCA Managing Director Dan Fasulo to proclaim, “All the stars are aligned for Berlin to see some tremendous retail growth.” This is especially because Berlin’s commercial real estate prices remain lower than its European equivalents.
Mr Fasulo also had an opinion on Rome, where good weather is in contrast with the poor growth potential for its commercial real estate market. “Rome has the same supply constrain characteristics of other mature European markets: It’s impossible to build anything in it and there are not many willing sellers.”
View the full article on Wall Street Journal: Juxtaposing Five European CRE Markets: Which One's For You?
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Posted by: Nina Turner