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 [...]

A survey in January and February 2008 of 54 property investors and bankers (controlling funds worth €130billion and €265billion respectively) reveals diverging options about European commercial real estate markets.
Bankers  are far more pessimistic (and confused) about UK property than investors, but are most optimistic about the new central and eastern EU states and Germany.
The UK [...]

Here are some of the brief outline in CBRE’s latest residential investment report (download full version below):
Residential investment demand is undergoing a slowdown, exacerbated by the credit crunch. Demand is likely to remain weak until both the housing and credit markets stabilise. In the interim, we expect equity-driven buyers to fill some of this void.
Our [...]

Independent property finance advisory firm Red Chilli has outsourced its disaster recovery and backup systems to Thinking Safe.
The company, which specialises in arranging funding for property projects, will use a service which automatically backs up data as it is stored in the company’s server portfolio. Previously, Red Chilli IT staff had to back data up [...]

Red Chilli Structured Finance has strong relationships with over 500 key commercial property finance lenders offering senior debt, mezzanine finance, joint venture partnerships and equity assuring our clients receive quick and effective route to any finance needed with a special emphasis on maximising return on capital.
“Our property advisory team will be happy to discuss your requirements and explore how we can [...]

See below for the full PDF version of the Construction Review Q1 2008 
It is clear from walking the streets of Britain’s cities that the days of high rise living are returning and research using Barbour ABI data has put numbers to this changing residential topography, underlining just how dramatic the change has been.
The new research for [...]