Student housing is becoming an increasingly attractive investment product in European markets. StudentMarketing, a global market intelligence consultancy, summarised the most important findings of the European Residential & Student Housing Investment Briefing at MIPIM.

Industrial, and specifically logistics, is the most sought-after real estate sector for European investors, overtaking office for the first time, according to CBRE’s annual EMEA Investor Intentions Survey. In 2017 Paris, Madrid, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London were the five most sought-after destinations in Europe for investors who are actively pursuing alternative opportunities due to aggressive asset pricing and limited availability of core stock. In Hungary steadily improving developer sentiment and potential platform deals could pave the way for rising turnover in the sector.

GTC closed 2017 with a €105 million development profit. The company acquired Belgrade Business Center (17,700 sqm) in September 2017 and the Cascade office building (4,200 sqm) in Bucharest in August 2017 for a total sum of €46 million. GTC presented its 2017 financial results.

Knight Frank has launched The Wealth Report, a study on global wealth. This year’s edition shows that the number of ultra-wealthy people (those with net assets of $50 million or more) rose by 10% in 2017 – taking the global population to 129,730, with a combined worth of $26.4 trillion.

The pace of change in property is undoubtedly getting faster. The way real estate is being built, managed and valued is being digitised which means that sooner or later many of the current job titles will disappear. Property Forum reports from MIPIM where a discussion held on the Colliers International boat provided a deep insight into the future of the property business.

Austria (+74%), Romania (+54%), the Netherlands (+46%), and Denmark (+32%) experienced the greatest annual increases in commercial property investment in 2017, as total investment across Europe rose to €234 billion, a 7% increase year-on-year, according to.

Warsaw, Poland’s capital and largest city, has a population of more than 1.75 million. It is also the country’s biggest labour market and home to many university-level schools with a strong R&D sector. It boasts a relatively low unemployment rate which stood at 5.6% at year-end 2017 and the highest gross monthly salary averaging €1,300 (PLN 5,432). Warsaw is growing at a rapid pace, combining modernity with history, new business districts with green areas, the latter accounting for 28% of the city’s total area in 2017, and investing in both public transport and alternative means of transport (including 400 km of cycle lanes as at the end of 2017). Cushman & Wakefield has launched its latest report Warsaw 2020 on Warsaw’s future and major developments transforming the city’s skyline

Retail and hotel sectors recorded highest investment volumes in the Croatian commercial property market in 2017. According to information available and Colliers’s estimate, 2017 brought more than €320 million investment in transactions of 22 investment properties. This does not include pending transactions or confidential deals.

London ranked as Europe's most attractive city for businesses and employees for second year running, according to Colliers International's latest European Cities of Influence report, which reviews and ranks cities based on their occupier attractiveness, availability of talent, and quality of life factors alongside economic output and productivity; Paris, Madrid, Moscow and Birmingham making up the rest of the top five.

EPP published its financial results for the full-year of 2017. During the period, the distributable income was at €76.6 million, exceeding the forecasts. At the same time, the company kept building its strong presence in Poland’s key cities, while EPP-owned properties enjoyed growing footfall and increasing sales. The value of asset portfolio rose by 29%, to €1.95 billion.