According to JLL, Q2 2015 preliminary data reveals global transaction volumes in the second quarter were unchanged from the same period in 2015. The transaction volumes totaled USD161 billion, thanks in part to a strong showing from the United States who led the way in global commercial real estate investment after recording a 30 percent rise in transaction volumes.
The lack of change in global transaction volumes was welcome news as the debt crisis in Greece and volatility in China’s equity markets threatened to negatively impact transaction activity.
Things were not as positive in the Asia Pacific where lower transactions in Japan and Australia saw volumes plummet in the second quarter. Transactional volumes fell 19 percent in the region’s biggest markets as Asia Pacific was hurt by the strength of the U.S. dollar, JLL noted. There was good news from Hong Kong; however, as the country volumes skyrocketed up 88 percent over last year.
Transaction volumes were up 11 percent in the EMEA, a region that is measured in Euros. Southern Europe recorded a healthy 47 percent growth during the first six months of 2015 while the UK, France and Germany were up 15 percent. Investment from the Nordic countries rose 38 percent in the second quarter. There were also signs of renewed optimism from Russia as the country posted its strongest level of activity in the past five quarters.
JLL noted that the uncertainty over the future of Greece continues to push investors in Europe towards real estate which benefits not only from record low financing but also yields a healthy premium to the returns offered in risk free assets such as government debt.
“We can expect the recent decline in global interest rates to support transactional activity for the remainder of 2015,” David Green-Morgan, global capital markets research director at JLL, said. “As a result, we believe global volumes for the full year will reach US$750-760 billion, a five percent rise on 2014 transactional activity.”
