Global property returns are at their highest for four years, according to MSCI.

The total return on global property funds reached 13.5% last year, according to MSCI’s IPD Global Quarterly Property Fund Index.

Ken Greguski, executive director at MSCI, said: “In addition to offering the highest return in four years, Global Property Fund outperformed other asset classes for the first time since 2011.

Lar España Real Estate Socimi has acquired 41% of the shares of Puerta Marítima Ondara, owner of Portal de la Marina shopping centre in Ondara in Alicante. Lar España had acquired a 59% stake of Puerta Marítima Ondara in October 2014 and the hypermarket in June 2015, so it controls now the whole of Portal de la Marina shopping centre, with a total value of €94.5 million. The acquisition of the remaining 41.22% was approved by the Extraordinary General Shareholders' meeting held last December. 

Government bonds across the euro zone rose as the European Central Bank prepared to increase its debt purchases and investors awaited economic reports that are likely to show officials are still far from achieving their policy objectives.

Spanish five-year note yields fell to a record before a report Thursday that will show annual inflation in the country slowed for an eighth month in March, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

A top tier of western European cities are set to consolidate their current positions and see future rental growth across all sectors, while others are already stagnating or facing decreases, according to Gerald Eve's inaugural European Property Market Brief.

The report featuring Gerald Eve's 'property escalator' (pictured right) tracks current rental growth trends and future rental prospects across the major European markets. It reveals a widely diverse market in which established UK, Irish and Spanish cities, in particular, are set to outperform counterparts in countries including Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

The Spanish construction sector contributed 80,055 million euros to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the last quarter of 2015, after registering growth for the seventh consecutive quarter. According to data published by the National Statistics Institute, this represents the best quarter in over three years, since the last time the sector contributed more than 80,000 million euros to the GDP was in the third quarter of 2012.

Non-residential real estate investment in Spain reached a record 11,700 million euros in 2015 which, according to a real estate investment market study carried out by Deloitte Financial Advisory, represents a year-on-year increase of 36%.

The city of Madrid accounted for 57% of the investment, while Barcelona received 10% of the total investment.

European real estate asset and investment manager AEW Europe is to launch a pan-European €500 mln value-add fund within the next 18 months, according to someone familiar with the company.

New capital targeting commercial real estate globally grew to reach a record of $443bn (€400bn) last year, according to C&W.

The company’s ‘Great Wall of Money’ report, released at MIPIM today, tracks the amount of newly raised capital targeting real estate at the global level. 

The report shows the flow of capital is unrestricted, as investors seek opportunities across the world.

Meridia Capital Partners, SGEIC, S.A., (“Meridia Capital”) announced today that it has successfully closed the acquisition of Nestlé’s Spanish headquarters, located in Barcelona (Esplugues de Llobregat). The facilities include 5 buildings with a total built area of c.49,000 sqm and 579 parking spaces. 

Pension funds gave non-listed real estate a resounding vote of confidence last year, contributing EUR57.3 billion (46.4 per cent) of all new equity, according to the 2016 Capital Raising Survey, published by INREV, ANREV and NCREIF.

Last Thursday (March 10) Mario Draghi, Governor of the ECB, announced a new set of monetary stimulation measures. The cut in the main re-financing rate and the marginal lending rate makes it cheaper for Euro-area banks to borrow short-term from the ECB. The deposit rate was already negative - meaning banks have to pay even more (10bps) to make short-term deposits at the ECB.

Logicor has agreed to acquire 12 logistics assets in Germany, Spain and the Benelux from Goodman European Partnership (GEP). The 496,000 m2 portfolio comprises six assets in Germany, three in Spain and three in the Benelux. Existing tenants across the portfolio include third party logistics service providers (3PLs), manufacturers and engineering firms.

Occupier activity for industrial and logistics space increased by 7 per cent in a year to 18 million sq m, setting a new record and representing a 7 per cent increase on 2014. Activity was strongest in Germany where take-up reached 6 million sq m, a 17 per cent increase on a year ago. CEE was the other success story of 2015, with 4.7 million sq m let. Poland is competing with France and the UK for second position in the European ranking of take-up activity, with 2.5 million sq m let during the year.
 
Despite rising geopolitical risks, the prospects for the European industrial market across the remainder of 2016 are positive. Disappointing results registered by the manufacturing sector at the end of 2015 have been balanced by strong demand from European consumers.

Sovereign wealth and pension fund delegates at the MIPIM RE-Invest summit heard that the global real estate sector is continuing to benefit from economic headwinds but with a good measure of caution.

Robert White, president and founder of Real Capital Analytics, said that, with negative interest rates now a reality in a large part of the Western world, “juicy spreads” in property are leading to a continued “digging in” to core markets. The top 25 global cities accounted for two-thirds of all property investment in 2015, he said, pointing to a focus in liquidity and a “growing array” of property sub-sectors and an exploration of peripheral areas of core cities.

Global real estate transactions are expected to reach a new record this year, with Cushman & Wakefield predicting a 4% rise on last year to $1.34trn (€1.21trn).

The company’s Atlas Outlook 2016 report, which reviews international investment patterns and anticipates market performance for the year ahead, shows global property trading activity fell last year for the first time in six years, albeit edging down just 2% to $1.29trn.

Neinver ended FY 2015 with very positive results for both foot traffic and sales at the outlet centres it manages in 6 European markets. Total sales for all the outlet centres it operates under The Style Outlets and Factory brands surpassed €1.056 billion, 10% more than in 2014. The centres' foot traffic totalled 44.25 million visits, up 6% from the previous year. 

Starwood Capital Group, a leading global private investment firm, and leading hotel investment and asset management firm HI Partners announced today that they have established a joint venture to invest in the Spanish hospitality market. 

Starwood Capital Group, through a controlled affiliate of Starwood Global Opportunity Fund X (SOF X), will own 70% of the joint venture company, while HI Partners will own the remaining 30%. HI Partners—majority-owned by Banc Sabadell, the fifth-largest banking group in Spain—will serve as the manager of the joint venture, which is expected to deploy approximately €500 million in the Spanish hotel sector over the next three years.

The open ended fund, AXA CoRE Europe has an initial investment capacity close to EUR 700 million and aims to build a highly diversified portfolio of Core European real estate assets, it has already raised over EUR 500 million from a range of European institutions.  

TH Real Estate has launched an open-ended property fund targeting European cities.

The investment manager said TIAA allocated it an initial €200m for the European Cities fund.

Investors are regaining confidence in the Spanish capital which is one of the few European markets where prime office rents are rising, finds  Russell Handy

North of Madrid’s famous Castellana, work is due to begin on the €240m Cuatro Torres project backed by Corestate Capital.

An international investor boldly ploughing capital into a mixed-use Madrid scheme would have seemed unthinkable not so long ago.

Confidence is back and international capital continues to target the city, driven by a belief that the only way is up for Spain, despite 22% unemployment, according to Eurostat.