The number of commercial property sales in Europe climbed by more than a third in the fourth quarter, the fastest pace in three years, as cash-rich buyers returned to the market, according to CB Richard Ellis Group.
More than 1,100 transactions were completed throughout Europe, 36 per cent more than in the third quarter and 52 per cent more than a year earlier, the Los Angeles-based property broker said yesterday.
That’s about 75 per cent of the number at the market’s 2007 peak.
The sizes of transactions have also grown as investors that raised cash, including German property funds and sovereign wealth funds, compete for properties.
There were 24 purchases for more than 200 million euros (S$390.4 million) in the second half of last year, triple the number in the first half, CB Richard Ellis said.
‘There has been a significant increase in the average lot size,’ CB Richard Ellis said in the statement. ‘The combination of the recovery in values and ability of investors to complete larger transactions has driven this average up.’
Buyers’ access to debt was a crucial factor in the success of deals, the company said.
The average European sale was 23 million euros in the fourth quarter, according to the report. That compares with 49 million euros at the market’s peak in the third quarter of 2007, when there were 62 purchases for more than 200 million euros.
The total value of commercial property transactions was 25.7 billion euros in the final three months of last year, a 42 per cent increase from the previous quarter, the broker said on Jan 18.
That included one billion euros spent by German funds in December, in 13 acquisitions across seven countries.
Source : Business Times – 11 Feb 2010
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