Occupier demand and investment activity has increased in the majority of European commercial real estate markets, a new survey has found. However, despite the improving investor sentiment, the gap between emerging and developed countries is rising.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Global Commercial Property Survey has revealed that, in Europe, tenant demand is on the rise in most of the markets covered by the study. Rics added that this growth in demand has come about despite oversupply and rental expectations remaining a large problem.
Russia emerged as the best performing occupier demand market of the region, followed closely by the Scandinavian and Polish markets. Similarly, investment activity improved across all European markets, with Portugal, Ukraine, Croatia and the UK the only exceptions.
As in the previous quarter, Poland was the best performing overall market in the region and capital values are expected to grow in the coming months, RICS said. Although a spokesman for the firm added that "capital flows are likely to be increasingly directed towards real estate opportunities in the emerging world".