The commercial property market across Europe is picking up, with office-leasing volumes up 15% in the first nine months of 2015, against the previous year. Additionally, the office vacancy rate is approaching the all time low of 7.1% achieved in 2008; it stood at 9.1% in 3Q. The improving volumes is attracting new levels of investment from the US, with CBRE Group Inc. spending or planning to spend about 50% of its private equity real estate fund in Europe, while investment in US property accounts for only 5% of spending. This suggests that while Europe's property markets have been slower to recover from the financial crisis than those in the US, a sustained period of low-level growth is now expected.
The commercial property market across Europe is picking up, with office-leasing volumes up 15% in the first nine months of 2015, against the previous year. Additionally, the office vacancy rate is approaching the all time low of 7.1% achieved in 2008; it stood at 9.1% in 3Q. The improving volumes is attracting new levels of investment from the US, with Morgan Stanley spending or planning to spend about 50% of its private equity real estate fund in Europe, while investment in US property accounts for only 5% of spending. This suggests that while Europe's property markets have been slower to recover from the financial crisis than those in the US, a sustained period of low-level growth is now expected.