European Commercial Real Estate

Europe: Foreign investment dropped 19% in 2016

19 April 2017

"At a Glance" publication - cross-border investment in Europe. Foreign investment dropped 19% in 2016, after a record volume in 2015.

The economic recovery continues in the Eurozone. Despite a slowdown at mid-year, GDP maintained a stable pace of growth in 2016 with 1.7% on average. It should enjoy growth close to 1.5 % in 2017, a slight decline on 2016 due to political uncertainties at national level and some less favourable economic fundamentals (such as raw materials, inflation, oil prices and interest rates).

Coming in the wake of a record year 2015, the European investment market, at €230 bn, recorded a 10% slowdown in 2016. The share of cross-border investment dropped during 2016

One of the strengths of the European commercial real estate market has been the amount of capital moving in between markets and flowing into Europe. After peaking in 2015, the share of cross-border investment dropped to 48% of the total in 2016 but, at €110 bn, it is still the third highest amount in the last ten years.

Etienne Prongue, head of International Investment Group at BNP Paribas Real Estate

Amongst foreign investors, European were the most represented (41%) with a volume of € 45.8bn, quite fairly split between Eurozone (51%) and non-Eurozone investors (49%). American investors plunged 37% reaching almost € 26bn in 2016. They represent only 24% of the total foreign investment volume in Europe (vs. 31% a year ago). Sharp pricing and uncertainties have driven the investors on CEE countries, which stay up while it was halved in Europe top 3 markets. Besides a 12% decrease in volume invested into European real estate, the Asian share of cross-border investment total rose to 11%. They became the main foreign investors in the UK, before the Americans.

Besides drops in volume, there was no change in the relative ranking of the destinations of foreign capital. Indeed, the UK remains #1 destination of foreign investment in Europe, but dropped 30% in volume due to the wait-and-see attitude of most investors. Germany suffered from an on-going shortage of supply which has held total turnover back; international investment volume was 20% down on 2015. Whereas, France, albeit dropping 19% of foreign investment, still represent 9% of their European allocations. The main gainers were Ireland, The Netherlands and Central & Eastern Europe.

Céline Cotasson-Fauvet head of Pan-European Research at BNP Paribas Real Estate