European commercial real estate dealmaking hit an 11-year low in the first quarter of the year, according to data published by the finance company MSCI (NYSE:MSCI).
Approximately $40.3 billion in transactions occurred during the quarter, down 62% from one year earlier. MCSI attributed the decline to rising interest rates, tumult within the banking sector, concerns about economic growth and declines in commercial property values. Europe’s problems are being noticed abroad, as overseas investment in European real estate dropped to the lowest level since 2011.
“While there are obvious concerns about the availability of real estate finance following the banking turmoil in March, we’ve yet to see a widespread increase in distressed sales,” said Tom Leahy, head of EMEA real assets research at MSCI, in an interview with the Financial Times. “It’s worth remembering that after the global financial crisis it was several years before we saw meaningful volumes of distressed sales.”
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