Insurance News Archive

'Property market in Belgium and Luxemburg stable'

The position of Belgium and Luxemburg in important political and financial centres means they have "very healthy, stable markets" for commercial property investors, an analyst has claimed.

According toJohn Defauw, managing director of real estate services provider Savills, the established markets of Belgium and Luxemburg will be able to survive the credit crunch more successfully than less mature markets due to financial services in the two countries and an abundance of EU offices in Belgium.

Knight Frank's 2008 Brussels market reported that despite the onset of uncertainty in the market during the third quarter, the city saw a record volume of €2.5 billion (£1.9 billion) transacted in 2007.

Mr Defauw said: "In terms of office markets, Brussels is the fourth market of Europe; mainly driven by European agencies and public tenants. It's a very stable market – it represents approximately 11.2 million square metres of office space."

Luxemburg is also a very stable market, but its market is driven by the financial sector rather than EU agencies and as that financial sector is still expanding, the outlook for this market is positive, he added.

Savills Belux was opened on 22 February 2008 to service the Belgian and Luxembourg property sector.

27 Feb 2008