The data analysed by Savills Aguirre Newman shows that during the first 9 months, German investors increased their investment in 77%, reaching 1.400 million euro. The highlight in terms of transactions goes to the acquisition of Intu Asturias by ECE European Prime Shopping Centre Funds for 290 million euro.
«German investors seek quality assets in stable markets with legal safety. Spain, after the appearance of the REITs and the important investments that were made to improve the quality of the real estate assets, became one of the main focuses for investments for the big German funds», explained Carlos Ruiz-Garma, Director of Cross Border Investment for Southern Europe at Savills.
French investors also registered a significant increase in terms of investment in Spain. In September they had already invested 10% more than during the whole of last year, having reached 400 million euro. Amongst the largest operations was the purchase of an office building located at Julián Camarillo, in Madrid, by a fund managed by Amundi Real Estate for around 56 million euro.
Investment rises in Europe
The fact is that this is not just happening in Spain. According to the RCA's data analysis from consultant, «German and French investors are about to invest more capital than last year in the real estate markets of certain European countries», such as the United Kingdom and Italy. The explanation seems to be in the «absence of some competitive investors located outside Europe», assumed the consultant.
Eri Mitsostergiou, director of Research Europa at Savills, explained that «this data shows on the one hand that the European real estate sector continues to be perceived as safe to invest in, even during the Covid-19, in particular the core office, prime logistics and multifamily assets due to stable long-term returns. On the other hand, while investing on their domestic markets, both German and French investors are diversifying their portfolios, so that their investment in foreign countries has been increasing».
Marcus Lemli, Savills Alemania’s CEO and Head of Investment Europe explained that «during complicated times, it is natural for investors to invest in markets they are familiar with and that is why we see so much German and French capital being invested in their own and the neighbouring countries. Besides, the remarkable increase in terms of investment in Europe led by these two groups is the result of the money flow within the pension funds which needs to be invested in order to generate returns, which is benefitting the real estate activity».