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 Real estate survey results Global Regional breakdown Country breakdown Methodology |
THREE YEARS ON from the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, it is safe to say that the deluge of commercial real estate (CRE) bargains that investors had expected from stricken banks in the US and Europe will not materialize. Although the stand-off between balance-sheet lenders and potential distressed investors has eased over the past year (with several important portfolio divestments already executed and more coming to market) industry-wide recapitalization and deleveraging on both sides of the Atlantic have prevented forced selling and restricted the flow of dirt-cheap opportunities. Against the backdrop of continued monetary and fiscal easing, renewed risk appetite among banks and institutional investors has emerged to tackle the refinancing challenge. Ray Torto, global chief economist at CBRE in New York, says that in Europe and the US, CRE markets have performed better than the overall economy. "Even with the tepid economic recovery, CRE in Europe and the US has outperformed the underlying economies and we expect that to continue as economies slow from here," he says.