UK remains most attractive global commercial real estate market, despite Brexit ⁰

One in three (31 percent) commercial real estate investors say that the UK remains their preferred region to invest in, with a figure that has remained the same since June 2016 despite the UK deciding to leave the European Union in that period. While a quarter (24 percent) of real estate investors favour Germany as their location of choice for commercial real estate opportunities; however, according to the latest BrickVest commercial property investment barometer this represented a fall from 28 percent in June 2016. More than one in five (21 percent) selected the US, the same as last June, while France saw an increase from 13 percent in June 2016 to 15 percent in June this year. The Barometer also revealed that French, German and US investors are more favourable towards the UK since June last year. Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of French, a fifth (19 percent) of German and 23 percent of US investors suggested they prefer the UK in June this year, representing an increase from last year across the board from 22 percent, 18 percent and 20 percent respectively.

According to BrickVest’s investors, the average risk appetite for commercial real estate increased to 49 percent from 47 percent in June last year, meaning a sentiment shift from low to balanced risk. French investor risk appetite increased significantly from 33 percent to 55 percent while the US saw an increase to 50 percent (47 percent in June 2016). UK investor risk appetite also increased from 49 percent to 51 percent despite choosing to leave the EU while in Germany it remained stable at 48 percent (the same in June 2016).

Despite Brexit, more than four in ten (43 percent) BrickVest UK investors selected their home market as their preferred location. UK investors highlighted Germany as second (20 percent), the US (19 percent) third and France (13 percent) fourth in terms of preferred locations to invest.

Emmanuel Lumineau, CEO at BrickVest, commented: “Despite a series of significant events over the past 12 months including Brexit, our latest Barometer shows the UK remains the preferred location to invest in from our global investor base. Since the vote in June last year, we’ve seen a 72 percent increase in the number of investors joining the platform and are seeing plenty of appetite from investors for property as an asset class.”

The full report is available here.