A staggering €23.9bn (£19.7bn) of European property loans were sold in the first quarter of 2014, with a further €5.9bn sold in April.
The combined €29.8bn of sales almost matches the €30.3bn achieved in the whole of 2013 and has prompted analysts to revise their full-year forecasts upwards.
Cushman & Wakefield Corporate Finance, which compiled the figures, now expects full-year sales to reach €50bn, a €10bn rise on their previous forecast.
A further €23.4bn of live sales are currently in the pipeline, according to C&W.
The sale of loans from the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation helped to push the figures to record levels, the highest seen since the start of structured bank deleveraging.
The UK and Ireland accounted for 72% of all closed sales in 2014 so far this year.
IRBC sales accounted for €19bn of sales in Q1 alone.
C&W Corporate Finance partner and head of loan sales Federico Montero said: “The European real estate loan sale market could reach its peak in 2014 as activity soared in the first few months of this year – we won’t see a quarter like this for quite some time.”
The average outstanding balance on the 38 deals so far this year was €784m, reflecting a marked increase on the €360m reported by C&W’s 2013 European Loan Sales Market report.
The large lot sizes have favoured the big US private equity investors and Montero said the speed of sales provided a “clear message” that investor appetite was at an all time high.
jack.sidders@estatesgazette.com
TOP BUYERS – 2014 YTD (APRIL)
| Rank | Investor | Volume (€m) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lone Star (inc jvs) | 12,932 |
| 2 | Cerberus | 5,625 |
| 3 | CarVal (inc jvs) | 3,219 |
| 4 | Deutsche Bank (inc jvs) | 1,763 |
| 5 | Oaktree (inc. JVs) | 1,251 |
Source: Cushman & Wakefield
