Property turns corner

The European property market turned the corner last year although the increase in invested stock was just one percent in the UK compared with 11 percent in France, DTZ’s Money into Property 2011 report says.

Invested stock across Europe as a whole increased four percent – a marked turnaround on the previous year’s eight percent decline. DTZ forecasts this will increase further in 2011, although Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain posted a three percent fall.

Hans Vrensen, global head of research at DTZ, said Europe was returning to “a more normal situation”. He said: “We expect the region to continue this positive trend with a four percent increase in 2011. The forecast rise is predominantly a result of capital value growth as some CEE [Central and Eastern European] markets are projected to re-price.

“On the other hand, the contribution to stock growth from the new development pipeline is modest in Europe, in contrast to Asia Pacific where construction is booming.” Investment transaction volumes in Europe rose 64 percent in 2010, just below the global increase of 76 percent. Europe is forecast to continue to recover into 2011, with a 20 percent increase.