Europe has seen its highest level of corporate real estate sales in eight years, according to a survey from JLL.
With over 350 deal totalling €14.6bn (£10.2bn), corporate treasury and finance teams took advantage of strong investor appetite and low interest rates to raise capital from their real estate holdings, JLL claimed.
Some 40% of respondents to JLL’s survey said they had seen increasing demand from their corporate leadership to raise capital in this way.
It is a trend that Michael Evans, head of corporate capital markets at JLL, expects to continue. “Companies are now faced with a once in a cycle opportunity to exploit the best market conditions since 2007,” he said. “This momentum has continued into 2015, with an abundance of equity targeting real estate. This presents opportunities for companies with owned real estate to raise capital via sale and leasebacks.”
Corporate sellers occupying industrial and office assets were the most active with a 38% share of the activity.
Hotel operators were the second largest share, with 17% of those capitalising on their real estate assets.
Corporates in the UK, Germany and France were keenest to exploit the strength of the real estate markets, representing 60% of European activity in 2014.
UK activity was almost double the volume achieved in 2008 and up 18% year-on-year. Spain and the Nordic regions corporate sales were also up 18% on the previous year.
