This year is set to book the strongest performance and real estate trade volume since the market peak of 2007, according to Jones Lang LaSalle's new Global Market Perspective report.

'The world's major real estate markets started the year on a positive note and as we enter the second quarter these markets are continuing on their recovery path,' said Arthur de Haast, head of the International Capital Group at JLL. 'Markets are showing remarkable resilience, despite the shocks of the disaster in Japan, the turmoil in the Middle East and a slightly less optimistic outlook for the global economy. The continuing global real estate recovery is characterised by strengthening investment markets, increasing corporate optimism and robust price growth for prime assets across multiple markets.'

The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations have continued to grow in importance to the real estate capital markets. These countries, which accounted for 2% of investment trades in 2007, are accounting for 13% of global volumes in first quarter 2011. This places the BRICs nations, as a group, third after only the US and the UK. The BRIC contribution to overall investment volumes is expected to rise further as transparency and the quality of the available supply of real estate stock improves.

Brazil is the main growth story over the last quarter. The country became the fifth most active investment market in Q1, overtaking China, as domestic demand drove activity during the quarter.

Paul Guest, head of Global Capital Markets Research at JLL added: 'Investors are continuing to focus on core assets in the main gateway cities, but with insufficient supply, they are selectively moving up the risk curve in terms of geography and type of investment. For example we have seen more investors looking at prime assets in Central and Eastern Europe and at opportunistic opportunities in Asia, particularly Poland and China, respectively.'