Whether our clients are acquiring, selling, managing or investing in property, good decisions depend on accurate, carefully analysed information. Our team makes a close study of real estate globally, delving into specific sectors and markets as well as exploring broader real estate trends. We report back to our clients via publications, reports and presentations,
Why do they choose to work with us?
The research team has access to data, market intelligence and human expertise from a worldwide network of CBRE offices. The EMEA research team alone numbers 106 people in 43 EMEA countries and incorporates a specialist cross-border research team. The findings we report to our clients have a depth - and a value - that other firm’s researchers cannot match. It’s how we give our clients a competitive edge.
Which specialist services do we offer?
Regular local market analysis and reports
Analysis and reporting of regional and global trends
Economic woes in the eurozone and the uncertain outlook continue to affect occupier demand and constrain leasing activity levels. In the first quarter of the year, take-up in the key Western European markets dropped to approximately 2 million sq m, its lowest quarterly total since 2009.
During the first quarter, the EU-27 vacancy rate dropped to 10.25%, from 10.35% at the end of the previous, but overall it has fallen by only 20 bps compared with its peak a year ago. The sluggishness of reductions in vacancy is primarily due to the weakness of demand and continued release of surplus space by occupiers.
Rental growth continues to stagnate across Europe. As a result, the CBRE Prime Office Rent Index grew by only 0.1% on the previous quarter. In the first quarter, rises were modest and geographically confined to a small group of markets. Until current economic conditions persist, rental growth is likely to remain subdued.
The volume of new completions is bottoming out in many cities and new starts remain generally weak. In a small number of markets there are first signs of an acceleration in speculative development but even there the pipeline is still subject to postponements or potential delays.
The gap between the yield on prime real estate and that on government bonds has jumped over the last two months;
In the Eurozone, with the yield on ten-year German government bonds having fallen to just 1.88%, this gap is now at a record high;
Some investors should be taking advantage of this jump in the yield gap, although our analysis suggests that it will further widen the performance gap between prime and non-prime real estate.
European banks seeking to strengthen their balance sheets will not be shedding significant quantities of real estate assets at depressed prices, as they pursue measured deleveraging strategies.
The enclosed report analyses the perception amongst many global investors that banks in Europe will (and can) be forced to achieve deleveraging through the bulk sale of property loans and assets at any price.
In coming to this conclusion, CBRE's report considers: the drivers of banks’ desire to reduce their real estate exposure, the implications of various courses of action, and the actions undertaken by banks since the bottom of the market in 2009.
Low interest rate environments are intended by governments as a way of stimulating economic growth by encouraging business investment. However, those same low interest rates have created a significant barrier to banks working out their legacy of non-performing real estate loans.
Created as a hedging instrument, swaps were intended to protect real estate loans with high LTVs, which typically have low interest rate cover, against interest rate rises.
However, as the financial crisis drove interest rates down to unprecedentedly low levels, these instruments have become increasing burdens on investors and, in the case of distressed sales, the recovery of value to lenders.
Russia and Poland enjoyed a mini boom over the Christmas period, and the UK did better than expected.
Christmas sales disappointed in France and Germany, with Italy and Spain recording more dramatic declines. In general, consumers in the eurozone area spent less over Christmas than those in other countries.
Luxury retailers posted strong sales figures despite a squeeze on spending, as have many value retailers.
Retailer administrations were a feature of the UK market over the Christmas period, but were rare elsewhere.
EMEA Office MarketView Q1 2012
(
761KB
)