RECOVERY is now a trend in real estate, according to KPMG’s head of real estate,
Stefan Pfister. “We are seeing asset allocations moving in favour of real estate,” he added. “It’s seen as a safe haven. It offers investors diversification and it’s a sector where investors can control their own investments.” And Pfister believes the recovery story is no longer restricted to the prime markets. “There has been a recovery in peripheral markets as well,” he said. “That will continue to gain traction because of the highly competitive pricing and the scarcity of assets in the core markets.”
But the upturn is not universal. Pfister pointed out that Italy saw a decrease in 2014, even while Ireland and Spain saw big increases. “Recovery tends to happen first in the more liquid markets like Dublin, Madrid and Barcelona,” he added. The KPMG chief forecast that “a big chunk of the capital infl ow will still target London, Paris and the German cities, but perhaps there will be more focus on value-add assets rather than core”. And he thinks this will be especially true of the sovereign wealth funds and the globally active pension funds that have come to dominate the European markets: “Lot size is an issue for them, so they have to play in the big core markets, though we are seeing the more mature funds such as ADIA showing interest in value-add.”
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