According to Savills, the e-commerce boom is continuing to drive demand for industrial and logistics assets across Europe, as new records were set for both levels of investment and leasing activity in 2021. In Poland, take-up in 2021 reached an all-time high and industrial assets accounted for over a half of the total investment volume.

Driven by large-scale mergers and acquisitions, European multifamily investment volumes in the 12 countries analysed reached approximately €92.3 billion in 2021, a 79% increase year-on-year and a 120% increase on the past five-year average, Savills announces. 

Record levels of investment poured into European residential assets last year, with spending nearly equal to that of office investment, Knight Frank reports. Just shy of €100 billion of assets were traded in the European residential investment sector in 2021, up 60% on 2020, analysis of data from RCA shows.

Occupancy levels in purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) have on average reached pre-pandemic figures in many countries, a new study released by market research and advisory specialist Bonard shows.

A large share of real estate professionals globally no longer view office space as being essential for a company to operate successfully. At the same time, increasing demand for flexible workplaces is evident and office space is being repurposed for other uses more and more frequently, according to the RICS Global Commercial Property Monitor for Q4 2021.

Savills, together with Eastdil Secured, has advised Macquarie Capital Principal Finance and Elite Partners Capital on the sale of a pan-European logistics portfolio, Elite Logistics Fund I to Blackstone European Property Income Fund (BEPIF) for €520 million.

While the future of the office industry was unpredictable in the early days of the pandemic, companies are doubling down on their investments in strategic office locations and preparing for a future in which hybrid work could become mainstream. Large employers still see the office as a central pillar of work arrangements and have made strategic acquisitions in the recent period.

Savills Investment Management, the international real estate investment manager, transacted more than €3.4 billion globally in 2021, including c. €2.6 billion in Europe and c. €670 million in Asia. Globally, transactions included around €2.1 billion of acquisitions and around €1.2 billion of disposals, resulting in a net investment of c. €900 million. The firm now manages approximately €24.8 billion in assets under management (AuM) as of September 2021

The Q4 2021 results of the RICS Global Commercial Property Monitor indicate a continued improvement in market sentiment across Europe compared to the previous quarters, with progress particularly evident on the investment side of the market. That said, conditions remain polarised at the sector level, with the latest feedback still signalling a challenging set of circumstances for retail while industrials continue to post robust expectations for the twelve months ahead.

Investors brushed aside concerns about the impact of the omicron variant to make the final quarter one of the biggest of 2021 for European property, with major markets posting near-record trading volumes, according to the latest capital markets snapshot for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) released by Colliers.