Improvements in the availability of real estate equity in Europe are expected to help bolster the region's real estate market this year, the latest report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute has forecast.
This year the European property landscape is set to face a number of challenges as a result of tougher regulations, austerity measures and increasing sovereign debt, the two bodies have warned.
However, the companies' Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2011 reports suggests that the market will get a boost from the arrival of a number of investors from the Asia Pacific region and from insurance companies and private equity funds.
Added to this, with capital so risk averse, cities such as Munich, London and Paris are expected to absorb investment and stand as the only places where tenant demand will remain robust, the report says. Other investor favourites are likely to be Istanbul, Stockholm, Berlin and Hamburg.
Elsewhere, the report predicts that buyers will avoid Dublin, Athens, Lisbon and Budapest and even within the most favoured markets, investment will be drawn mainly to the prime buildings. As a result, values for secondary properties will remain at distressed levels and even start to decline further.