Insurance News Archive

UK 'leading European commercial property activity'

UK investors were at the forefront of activity in the Europe commercial property market, according to a new report from industry advisors CB Richard Ellis.

Last year alone £10 billion was spent on commercial property overseas by UK investors, which may herald increased activity in commercial mortgages in future months.

Britain was forced out of the top spot, however, by investors from America who spent £14.5 billion in Europe over the past year.

Fuelled by this input, the commercial property spend Europe-wide has doubled to £155 billion in just two years.

A spokesman for CB Richard Ellis said that cross-border development was becoming more desirable and easier due to "a levelling up of market liquidity" to the standards set by the UK and Sweden.

However, the company's report noted that there was still a gap in market liquidity between some European countries which may offer potential for turnover to "get substantially bigger before any sort of structural limits are reached".

20 Mar 2007