Europe Commercial Property Update Will office rental value growth in Barcelona outpace Madrid? To date, the stronger recovery in office-based employment in Barcelona has yet to be reflected in a rise in rental values. But over the next couple of years, we suspect that rents in Barcelona will... 19th August 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone GDP (Q2 Prov.) The stagnation of the euro-zone economy in the second quarter further underlinedthe need for the European Central Bank (ECB) to take bolder policy action to addressthe continued weakness of the... 14th August 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German & Spanish Industrial Production (Jun.) June’s small rise in German industrial production was a huge disappointment, andsuggests that activity in what has been the euro-zone’s strongest economy stagnatedin Q2. This will add to pressure on... 7th August 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Credit conditions easing, but still very tight The ECB’s latest Bank Lending Survey (BLS) added to the evidence that improving conditions in the euro-zone’s financial sector are finally feeding into the real economy. But it will be a while before... 4th August 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Spanish GDP (Q2 est.) The Banco De Espana’s estimate that Spanish GDP rose by 0.5% in Q2 suggests thatSpain may have been one of the strongest euro-zone economies last quarter. But wedoubt that Spain’s recovery can... 23rd July 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economic Outlook As good as it gets? While the European economic recovery probably picked up a bit of speed in the second quarter of the year, there are growing signs that Q2 was as good as it is likely to get. Activity indicators in the... 8th July 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German & Spanish Industrial Production (May) Germany’s May industrial production figures arguably brought the strongest warning yet that the euro-zone’s fledgling economic recovery is in danger of grinding to a halt. 7th July 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Peripheral industry on its feet but not ready to run Industrial production is now expanding faster in the euro-zone’s periphery than in the core. While this reflects progress made towards restructuring in the peripheral economies, industry still faces... 16th June 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Focus How much upside is there for Spanish office rents? Despite dropping by 40% since 2008, we are not convinced that prime rental values in the main Spanish office markets are now obviously too low. While we do envisage a recovery over the next few years... 3rd June 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly German engine can’t power euro-zone recovery While the German economy expanded by an impressive 0.8% in Q1, this failed to spur growth elsewhere in the euro-zone and the region's GDP rose by just 0.2%. Possible explanations for this are the fact... 19th May 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German & Spanish Industrial Production (Mar.14) March’s industrial production data for key euro-zone countries suggested that the recovery in the sector failed to pick up any momentum and that even Germany experienced a modest slowdown. 8th May 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Negative rates are no silver bullet on their own A negative interest rate on banks' excess reserves at the ECB might have some effect on banks' behaviour and at least prove that the ECB is prepared to follow its dovish words with action. But it must... 21st April 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economic Outlook Deflation dangers persist The recovery in the European economy appears to have picked up a bit of speed in the early months of 2014. The euro-zone now looks set to expand by 1% or more this year, a significant improvement on... 10th April 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update What do jobs data imply for the peripheral occupier markets? Since the crisis, employment in the periphery has underperformed the euro-zone average. But recent data does at least show some positives for Portugal. And while sustained employment growth in Spain... 4th April 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Is Spain's recovery building momentum? Although timely activity indicators suggest that the Spanish economy may have built a bit of momentum at the start of 2014, we suspect that the recovery will remain disappointingly weak. 19th March 2014 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Stars still aligned for more ECB support Despite last week's stronger than expected euro-zone inflation figures, the combination of still very weak price pressures, the strong euro and recent falls in liquidity in the banking sector still... 3rd March 2014 · 1 min read