Britain has topped the list of the most attractive European markets for commercial property investment, despite investors becoming nervous about the prospect of leaving the EU if the Conservatives win the general election.
As investors from around the world gather in Cannes this week for the annual Mipim property conference, a new survey by CBRE, the property group, showed that just over 30 per cent of investors chose the UK as their preferred market. This was more than twice as many as those who voted for Germany and Spain, which came in joint second place.
France, which has been in the economic doldrums, may be about to turn a corner as it was selected by 10 per cent of investors as the most attractive market, up from 5 per cent last year.
At a city level, the top two markets were the same as last year, with 30 per cent voting for London and 14 per cent choosing Madrid. Paris came in third place.
The shadow on the horizon is the prospect of Britain leaving the EU. David Cameron has pledged to hold a referendum on EU membership in 2017 if he is in power, but some 69 per cent thought that an exit would make the country a less attractive prospect.
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Jonathan Hull, a managing director at CBRE, said: “London and the UK remain investors’ preferred destination for commercial real estate capital by a significant margin. However, with a huge proportion of respondents expecting to increase their overall trading activity in Europe next year across a broader spectrum of risk, we believe that a wider range of markets within the region should benefit from this trend.”