The TIME has come to start investing, says Cushman

It’s time to start buying, says Cushman & Wakefield’s EMEA forecasting team as it releases a new index aimed at helping investors know when to call the market. The TIME Score Index aims to simplify the representation of change in key metrics relevant to investors’ decision-making. The primary purpose of the TIME –Timing Investment Market Entry/Exit – Score is to identify key inflections in commercial real estate’s overall condition. It utilises historical real estate market data and economic indicators to assess current cyclical positioning and signal conditions and directionality. Back-testing of the score to Q3 2008 shows it can predict future movements, identify shifts in sentiment, and anticipate a pick-up in growth, said Cushman. The score ranges from 1 (contraction) to 5 (expansion), with a reading towards the higher end suggesting that current conditions are favourable and therefore an opportune time to invest. At a pan-European level, the TIME Score shows that logistics and industrial, residential, retail and hospitality have all moved either to or beyond an overall score of 2.5, which Cushman said marked a crossover from a cautionary period into the inflection phase. Offices is the only sector covered by the TIME Score below the inflection point, with its score of 2.2 reflecting availability of debt and rising swap rates in Q1. James Chapman, head of EMEA capital markets at Cushman, said: “The cyclical nature of real estate means that timing is everything for investors, who use various strategies to help enter or exit the market at a time that allows them to optimise profits, or minimise losses. The beauty of the TIME Score is that it represents changes in key metrics relevant to investors’ decision making in a simple way, even though it is built on multiple indicators. “Many investors are on standby, looking for the confidence or opportune conditions to act – whether that be entering or exiting the real estate market. The TIME Score shows that a window of opportunity exists, providing investors with a strategic moment to capitalise on favourable conditions.” Photo © Buffik/Pixabay