Lisbon is the 10th most attractive European city for real estate investment in 2021, revealed the EMEA Investor Intentions Survey 2021, announced by CBRE.
The list, despite the Brexit, is headed by London, followed by Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam, Munich, Hamburg, Zurich and Warsaw at number 9. With 4 cities on the top 10 most, CBRE believes Germany should lead the recovery of investment in Europe.
Currently, according to this report, around 60% of European investors plan to invest more on real estate this year than they did last year. Nearly 75% showed their intent of investing 10% more or higher this year when compared to last year, despite a clear difference between countries. In the United Kingdom, more than 80% want to invest more capital this year.
«In Portugal commercial real estate investment started slowly in 2021, due to the lockdown the country was subjected to, including travel restrictions and restrictions to properties’ visits, reflected into a strong slowdown in terms of investment during the first quarter. CBRE registered 200 million euro invested, which represents around 40% more than during 2020’s second quarter, at the time of the first lockdown, but 50% below the previous quarter», mentioned Cristina Arouca, Director of Research at CBRE Portugal.
Nuno Nunes, Director of Capital Markets at CBRE Portugal, explained that there is still a high interest for the Portuguese real estate market and, with the country’s gradual exit from the lockdown and an advancing vaccination plan, a very dynamic second half of the year is expected. «Portugal is perfectly placed under the international investment community’s radar and, internally, we forecast a very positive evolution in terms of investment from the local players. There are currently more than 2.4 billion euro in assets being marketed or on the process of being launched into the market soon, rising the yearly investment volume to approximately 2.6 billion euro. Although slightly below last year’s numbers (2.9 billion euro), it is a quite relevant number for the national market».
Offices resist remote work and are the preferred asset type
Despite the spread of remote work generated by the pandemic, offices remain European investors’ preferred asset type.
According to this study, 35% of respondents said their preferred real estate segment is the office segment and showed a positive sentiment towards the future of these assets, in particular those with higher quality (Grade A).
In terms of favourite real estate segments, the second place in the ranking goes to housing, with 24% of investment intents, followed by the industrial and logistic segment with 22%. It is within these segments that prices should show greater resilience, as opposed to hotels, retail or lower quality offices.
Investors’ preferences will be directed towards core and core plus strategies, as confirmed by 50% of respondents.
Investors also showed a greater focus on adopting sustainability strategies (ESG - Environmental, Social and Governance), with two thirds stating they had already adopted ESG criteria in their investment practices. Companies headquartered in the United Kingdom are the most aware of this topic, with 89% of respondents revealing they had already adopted ESG strategies.
