Europe’s fundamental mismatch between voracious housing demand and the limited supply is driving massive investment growth in the residential sector and will continue to generate opportunities even amid geopolitical and economic uncertainties, according to a new report by Colliers.

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.

AFI Europe has taken stock of the results for 2021, a year in which it has been fully committed to implementing its new corporate strategy focused exclusively on rental housing. The company is currently constructing four buildings in three residential projects in Prague. It plans to complete the larger part of them this year.

Wing’s residential development brand Living is launching the third, and final, phase of Kassák Terrace project, located in District 13 of Budapest. The residential project offers future homeowners community services and smart solutions. Kassák Terrace is scheduled for completion in the first half of 2025.

AFI Europe has completed the rough construction of an apartment building in the newly built AFI City district in Prague 9 - Vysočany. A total of 640 apartments are being built on a brownfield site near the Kolbenova metro station, exclusively for rental housing in two separate buildings, which will also include commercial space for shops, services and a restaurant. The construction of the first of them, with 313 units, has just moved towards completion and is successfully heading towards completion in Q4 2022.

Garbe Institutional Capital has launched a pan-European residential real estate fund with a total target investment volume (GAV) of around €800 million. The Garbe European Residential Fund (Garbe EUResi) invests in real estate developments and selectively also in properties undergoing energy rehabilitation. The investment strategy follows a "boots on the ground" approach: the fund only invests in locations where Garbe can act as a local investor through a local presence. The fund’s launch is a milestone in Garbe Institutional Capital’s move to expand into a European residential real estate platform. Garbe EUResi has already received equity commitments of €82.5 million.

Dorota Wysokińska-Kuzdra, Senior Partner, Head of Corporate Finance and Living Services for Central and Eastern Europe at Colliers talked to Property Forum about the rapid development of the PRS market and the current state of affairs on the residential market in Poland.

Residential investment sectors are gaining traction across Europe, with the volume of capital targeting student accommodation, the private rented sector and purpose-built age-targeted housing continuing to rise, according to Knight Frank’s European Residential Investment Survey 2022.