Bank lending still difficult.  LTVs and interest cover restrictive, lending margins still high and based on Libor. Typical cost of money 7+%. Banks syndicating less, but ‘clubbing’ together on bigger loans.  Three month LIBOR remains high at 5.85% compared to 5.0% base rate, unlikely to fall by more than 10-20 bps by year-end.
De Montfort University [...]

Recent market movement: UK property values continued to decline in Q1, though the pace of the correction eased from Q4. There are some signs of growing interest from potential buyers and this has encouraged valuers to moderate the pace of yield adjustment, at least for prime properties. As measured by the Investment Property Databank UK [...]

Over the last decade, many countries in the CEE region have been experiencing significant increase in house prices, raising concern about possible risk of over valuation. Understanding the fundamentals behind the CEE regional real estate market has therefore become a priority.
The privatisation process had one clear effect on house prices throughout the region. Dwellings were [...]

Although the value of the real estate capital market continued to grow to reach US$12 trillion in 2007, the year witnessed a sea-change in the global investment environment, following what the International Monetary Fund has labelled ‘the largest financial shock since the Great Depression’.
Real estate has been at the heart of events, acting as both [...]

Below is Savills 20th annual presentation on property finance. The presentation was excellent and consisted of Jim Ward (speaking on the UK residential market - “How far will the residential market fall?”), Mat Oakley (UK Commercial Markets - “Prospects for the UK commercial property market”) and William Newson (Head of UK Valuation - “Conclusion: UK property [...]

After strong inflows into the sector over the first quarter, retail investors continued to favour German Open-ended Funds. In April the net inflows registered €480 million, quite a robust level for this time of year.
Such steady inflows, however, have not been mirrored across other asset classes. Money market funds, in particular, registered strong capital outflows: [...]

Capital Values Decline Further: Occupier markets, which had remained firm since the onset of the credit crunch, forced All Property rental growth negative inMay for the first time since 2003.  This weakness was wholly attributable to Central London Offices, which recorded falls of 1.3%, their second consecutive monthly fall.
Despite a similar yield shift to last [...]

A giant Russian property group has teamed up with UK developer the Beetham Organization to build a £1bn, mixed-use Blackfriars tower on London’s South Bank.
Mirax, the group led by entrepreneur Sergei Polonsky with a £5bn development programme across the globe, exchanged contracts to buy a 50% stake in the 1 Blackfriars project on Wednesday morning [...]

The first quarter of 2008 confirmed that the widely expected slowdown in capital markets is progressively spreading across the continent. No longer a ‘UK-only’ phenomenon, the fall in investment activity is now evident across most European markets, as is the rise in yields. At just under €37 billion in Q1 2008, European investment activity has [...]