Global real estate markets continue upswing with regional patterns emerging

The first half of the year showed that confidence has improved and momentum has increased. While markets across the globe are strengthening, the last few weeks have shown that regional markets are moving with different dynamics. This July/August issue of the Global Market Perspective reviews the regional patterns emerging as the global property market recovery continues to build:

In Asia Pacific, which has been quickest to recover in 2010, the investment markets now are waiting for the rental markets to catch up with market sentiment.

In Europe, an investor-led bounce during the first half of 2010 has not yet filtered through to market fundamentals.  Investors now seem more hesitant, weighed with concerns about sovereign debt and austerity packages.

The United States had a slow start to 2010, but investment markets are now ramping up, momentum is building and market fundamentals are stabilising.

At mid-year, global direct commercial real estate investment volumes totalled US$130 billion. The full year total is expected to reach US$300 billion, which represents a healthy 40-50% increase on 2009.

In the corporate occupier markets, demand in Asia is still largely dominated by domestic firms, but multinationals are starting to become more active. Rental growth is forecast to return to a select number of European markets over the second half of 2010 and 2011. The Americas corporate occupier markets also are making progress through the bottom of the cycle and the outlook for commercial space demand in Latin America is overwhelmingly positive.