For direct real estate real investment 2013 was an excellent year, but what about 2014? Well, we are quite positive and we base our outlook on three factors. Firstly, core assets remain in strong demand as the global rotation into real estate by big pension and sovereign wealth funds is not over yet. Secondly, investors […]
Anyone who keeps in touch with the news will have noticed the increasingly upbeat economic announcements over the last 6 months or so. We have seen a very sharp turnaround from the near hopelessness of only a year ago when Europe seemed mired in a post-financial-crisis rut. UK and Eurozone economies emerged from recession by […]
Those architects of BritPop, Blur, once recorded an album entitled ‘Modern Life is Rubbish’. It is not a sentiment I support. In fact when it comes to modern living and working my glass is most certainly three quarters full. To me technology, so often criticised as taking society to the abyss, has an empowering quality. […]
It is not difficult to show the extent to which London dominates British life, from our economy to cultural and political life. Many, perhaps, assume that having such a dominant city in a small country is natural and unavoidable. Few seem aware quite how centralised our government is compared to other developed countries. With all […]
Over the last few weeks, I have done a lot of research for our new white paper European seaports – the growing logistics opportunity. It’s a topic I have been familiar with since writing our first European seaports report European seaports: future logistics hotspots back in 2008. My first impression was, five years on, trends […]
The Russian State Duma is going to consider amendments to the Tax Code, which are to affect the tax burden of real estate companies. The changes would bring in a new base for tax calculation: which would be changed to cadastral value from the previously used book value. Recently similar changes to property tax of […]
The Irish investment market has certainly had a lot of press coverage recently and everyone seems to be talking about it. Confidence has returned to the market and it is showing real depth in terms of demand, liquidity and supply. There have been a number of investors coming through our office doors in Dublin looking […]
Online giant Amazon is dropping its free shipping of products below £10 in the UK from this month, now requiring a £3.99 posting and package charge for such items (with some exceptions including books and CD’s). Certainly, for online customers this must feel like the unwelcome forebode of their perfect online shopping world being doomed. […]
After Fitch Ratings upgraded Turkey to investment grade in November 2012, Turkey earned its second and third investment-grade credit ratings in May with an upgrade to BAA3 and BBB by Moody’s Investors Service and Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) respectively. Currently, the country secured three investment-grade credit ratings, and it is expected that this will be […]
With the end of the year approaching, it is a good time to reflect not only on what has happened so far, but also on the immediate outlook for European real estate. In particular, there is hope that after a difficult 12 months, we may be close to a turning point. Recent weeks have brought […]
Economic indicators are deteriorating across the region as the Eurozone debt crisis rumbles on. Prospects have become gloomier, mirrored in the latest economic forecasts showing downward revisions for 2012 growth rates in Europe – notably the fringe economies, but also in France and the UK. The weak economy has been reflected in property markets, where […]
After a tricky few months for the global economy, more encouraging signs are appearing at last. But with parts of the Eurozone still fragile, it is wise to be cautious about recovery. Moreover, property market developments tend to lag these wider economic trends. So it is perhaps no surprise that Jones Lang LaSalle’s latest prime […]
Three months ago, the economic gloom was unremitting, with the Eurozone teetering on the brink and growth expectations for 2012 being downgraded by the day. At that time, we felt that prime property would remain robust to the downturn, but warned of the risks if the situation deteriorated. Our forecast is currently being reconsidered, so […]
Recent days have seen some key data releases and given a clearer picture of the road ahead for the UK economy. The recent European Central Bank (ECB) rate hike and the upward march in inflation over recent months had fuelled speculation about interest rate increases. Previously, the case for a May 2011 hike looked strong, provided […]
In October, Frances blogged about the latest Global Financial Centres Index from Z-yen placing London in the indexes number one position, and New York closely behind. Its conclusions were that “there remains no significant difference between London and New York…these centres work together for mutual benefit”. The big question remains as to whether regulation will […]
Much has changed in the last 20 years in UK commercial property. It has become more transparent and more global; it boasts new sectors and a growing array of listed and unlisted funds; new debt instruments have emerged; and derivatives are becoming an established property investment tool. Yet the last three years have reminded us […]
