Europe Commercial Property Outlook Capital values to fall back in 2012 and 2013 We expect the euro-zone to fall back into recession in 2012 and 2013. We have therefore cut our commercial property forecasts to reflect the weaker economic backdrop. Over the next two years, we... 10th November 2011 · 1 min read
Europe Economic Outlook Deepening crisis to prompt widespread recession The euro-zone debt crisis is having a severely damaging impact on the European macro-economy. Not only are the troubled peripheral economies set to remain deep in recession, but growth prospects have... 3rd November 2011 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Belgium's political crisis yet to take its toll Belgium’s severe political deadlock seems to have done little harm so far. But the political crisis is still preventing crucial fiscal tightening from being implemented. The deadlock is also delaying... 25th August 2011 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Will industrial rents in Belgian and Dutch markets continue to lead? The relatively strong macro drivers of industrial occupier demand in Belgium and the Netherlands are consistent with the fact that industrial rents in Brussels and Amsterdam are outperforming the rest... 16th August 2011 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Outlook Europe’s fiscal crisis will dent the occupier market recovery The weakening economic outlook for the euro-zone economy is likely to act as a brake on the recovery in commercial property markets over the next year or two. Rental value growth will moderate in most... 5th August 2011 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Belgian GDP (Q2) Q2’s flash Belgian GDP figure, the first release from a euro-zone economy, revealed that the economy expanded at a pretty strong pace. But this does little to change our view that growth in the euro... 30th July 2011 · 1 min read
Europe Economic Outlook Crisis deepens as slowdown spreads to the core The latest rescue package for Greece has reduced the threat of a near-term catastrophe in the eurozone.But it does not address the fundamental problems facing Greece itself and is unlikely to bring an... 27th July 2011 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update How significant is the slump in Brussels office take-up? It is tempting to dismiss the recent slump in office market take-up in Brussels as noise in an otherwise positive trend. But it could reflect the early stages of a labour market slowdown as firms... 15th July 2011 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Will the domino effect hit Belgium? With fears that Spain’s “decoupling” from Greece, Ireland and Portugal may prove temporary, markets may become less sanguine about Belgium than they have recently been. With the political situation... 24th May 2011 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Belgian GDP (Q4) Today’s Q4 GDP figure suggests that the Belgian economy continued to expand at a modest pace. But growth is likely to slow in coming quarters and given the country’s ongoing political crisis and large... 16th February 2011 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Should Brussels offices command a higher risk premium? Given the huge economic and political uncertainties facing Belgium, the recent widening in the spread between office yields in Brussels and other cities seems entirely rational. Indeed, we suspect... 8th November 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Belgian growth slows as political stalemate drags on In a sign of what may be to come for the euro-zone, the pace of the Belgian recovery has slowed. While a modest fiscal tightening will partly shield consumers, the political crisis and talk of the... 27th October 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Focus Brussels offices: a safe bet in uncertain times? The experience of the early 2000s was that the Brussels office market prospered in a weak macroeconomic environment. With the euro-zone economy now facing another protracted period of subtrend... 14th October 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Belgian political stalemate increases debt concerns Recent developments are not easing the concerns that we have previously raised over Belgium being the Greece of the North. While the Belgian economy is growing healthily, the current political crisis... 8th September 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Belgium: The weak link of the North Fears that Belgium might be the ‘Greece of the North’ have not yet been picked up by the markets. (See Chart 1.) But with persisting weaknesses in the banking sector and a renewed bout of political... 2nd June 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update What caused Belgian industrial rents to plunge in Q1? The sharp fall in Belgian industrial rental values in Q1 was probably just a delayed response to the depth of the recession. In any event, we expect the Belgian economy to grow a little faster than... 2nd June 2010 · 1 min read