The outlook for the European real estate industry in 2010 can be characterised as one of cautious optimism coupled with uncertainty, said John Forbes, real estate industry leader EMEA at PricewaterhouseCoopers and co-author of the annual Emerging Trends in Europe report published in partnership with the Urban Land Institute.

Based on over 250 face-to-face interviews with real estate professionals and 300 online surveys and presented at ULI Europe’s annual conference in Paris, the report forecasts another difficult year in which industry players will have to remain ‘absolutely diligent’ about everything they do. ‘People are more optimistic than they were a year ago, but there are a number of areas where they don’t know how things will pan out,’ Forbes said in an interview
with PropertyEU.

The caution is based on two main factors: the uncertain economic picture, particularly unemployment and its impact on the occupier side of the equation,
and banks’ strategy on a number of issues including debt. ‘People are nervously watching economic projections,’ Forbes said. ‘There is a general sense that unemployment is going to get worse, but no one knows quite how long it will be before it peaks, how high the peak will be, and once economic recovery starts, how quickly unemployment will go down. Moreover, recovery speeds will vary per country.’

As for the banks, the big question, according to Forbes, is what they will do with CMBS vehicles as well as existing and new debt, and how this will affect the whole refinancing equation.

The January/February edition of PropertyEU Magazine features more on the report. Click on the link below to subscribe