Real estate investors are struggling to find direction amid capital market turbulence and mounting concerns about a potential break-up of the eurozone. Even economists are at a loss to make sense of the current climate, noted Mike Sales, head of property investment at Henderson Global Investors. ´If you ask five people, you will get five different views,’ added Peter Schreppel, CEO of CBRE Germany.

Delegates polled by PropertyEU at Expo Real in Munich had mixed feelings on whether prospects had improved in the past year. ‘The atmosphere is more depressed than last year. Sentiment is driving the market more than data and it’s getting worse when you look at what’s being dumped in the market at prices that are too high,’ noted Joe Valente, head of research and strategy at JP Morgan. Despite the prevailing uncertainty, some investors remained upbeat. ‘I actually think we’ll see more opportunities in 2012/2013, especially with regard to state sell-offs in countries like Italy and Spain,’ noted Eric Sasson, managing director of Carlyle Europe.

So far, the ongoing crisis in European capital markets has not had an impact on Eurohypo’s lending strategy, said Thomas Köntgen, the new CEO of Germany’s leading lender. He conceded, however, that Europe is in ‘the eye of the storm’. ‘Hopefully, we will have clear answers in the next quarter. The market is concerned because something is going on that is beyond participants’ control.’