Eastern Europe's Real Estate Market Headed for Full Recovery - Colliers

A picture showing the view over Frankfurt through a window of the Commerzbank headquarters in Frankfurt Main, Germany. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Most commercial real estate markets around the world, including Eastern Europe, have passed the bottom and are now on the rise, according to Colliers International Global Investor Sentiment Survey for the third quarter of this year.

A total of 90% of the survey participants said they planned to expand their current level of real estate holdings within a year or as a minimum maintain them at current levels.

The Global Property Clock equates market cycles to specific times, with 12 o'clock representing the top of the market and six o'clock representing the bottom. Each six-hour period in between designates rising (after 6 o'clock, to 12 o'clock) or declining (after 12 o'clock, to 6 o'clock) cycles.

The majority of the potential investors for Eastern Europe (30%) place the market as 8 o'clock on the property clock. An almost equal number of investors (26%) place the clock slightly behind, at 7 o'clock, reflecting a feeling that the market has moved off the bottom firmly toward a full recovery. A further 9% believe the market is already at 9'o clock.

Considering that the majority of investors to the survey in Q1 2010 had placed the market at 5 o'clock on average, this indicates a very swift turnaround in the region's fortunes moving significantly to a firm recovery.

Globally, the largest group of survey respondents, which included real estate investors in every region of the world, put the Global Property Clock for their particular regions at eight o'clock, with the second and third largest groups at six and seven o'clock, respectively.

According to Georgi Kirov, Director, Investment Services, Colliers International, there is a growing optimism in the global real estate market, although current sentiment varies by region.

"New investment transactions in Bulgaria could be expected during the next few months. However, it would be yet early to say whether the market is ready to rebound", says Mr. Kirov.

He noted that most investment funds that are ready to expand in 2011 would either prefer to invest in less riskier markets (Germany, France, UK, the Scandinavian or Baltic States), or would consider bigger markets with a longer-term potential, such as Russia, Ukraine and Asia.

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