Germany named by real estate investors as most favoured commercial property market

Overseas property investors are less interested in British commercial real estate with the latest research showing that Germany is currently the favoured market. Some 33% of investors are looking to Germany but the UK is still in second place with 27%, followed by 17% for the United States and 15% for France, according to the latest commercial property investment barometer from BrickVest. It is the first time that Germany has come top and the research also shows that overall, the average investor risk appetite for commercial property increased to 52% from 48% last year The UK saw a drop from 33% to 31% in the third quarter of 2017 and from 32% in the same barometer 12 months ago. Some 17% selected the US, a slight 1% increase from 12 months ago, while there was no change for France year on year. The Barometer also revealed that UK, French, German and US investors are now less favourable towards the UK since last year. Some 45% of British investors, 21% of American, 19% of French and 18% of German investors said they favour the UK this quarter, a decrease from last year across the board from 46%, 26%, 28% and 21% respectively. According to BrickVest’s investors, the average risk appetite for commercial real estate continues to rise to 52% from 49% last quarter and from 48% this time last year, meaning a sentiment shift from low to balanced risk. German investor risk appetite increased significantly from 50% last year to 62% while the US saw an increase to 54% from 47% in the third quarter of 2016. UK investor risk appetite also increased from 46% to 47%. However in France, average risk appetite decreased significantly from 62% to 45%. BrickVest’s Barometer also showed that the investment objective for the majority, some 55%, of its online investors is capital growth compared to 33% who said income. ‘Investor risk appetite continues to rise as commercial real estate offers opportunities, especially in the form of debt like investments which offer good risk adjusted returns in a volatile market environment,’ said Emmanuel Lumineau, chief executive officer of BrickVest. BrickVest is the only pan-European online real estate solution platform that allows its community of investors to invest directly and actively manage their investment in institutional grade commercial real estate investment opportunities. BrickVest also offers proptech and regtech corporate services to real estate developers.