A new report by Real Capital Analystics (RCA) has revealed that investment into retail-anchored properties across Europe doubled in the second quarter of 2014. In all, €13.6bn was spent on retail assets betweeen April and June, far outstripping the €6.8bn spent in the same period of 2013. For the first half of this year, this contributed to a 50 percent increase over 2013 to €22.7bn.
Simon Mallinson, RCA’s Managing Director for EMEA, said: “The latest economic indicators show that Europe’s economy has turned a corner and that shoppers are starting to spend more after a long bout of belt-tightening. This has made property investors more confident that we may see rental growth, which in turn supports values.”
The numbers were bolstered by a pair of enormous transactions: the purchase by Land Securities of a stake in Bluewater for €806.5m, and the Apsys-led consortium’s acquisition of an interest in Beaugrenelle in Paris for €700m.
