Investors believe that Brexit can bring more opportunities in European real estate sector

FORTY PER cent of institutional investors plan to increase their investment allocation to European commercial real estate over the next year, according to a new survey.

The study from BrickVest, the real estate investment platform, also found that 60 per cent of institutional investors believe Brexit uncertainty will be the biggest challenge facing European investors in commercial real estate over the next 12 months.

Nearly half (46 per cent) thought political uncertainty would be the biggest challenge while nearly two in five (37 per cent) said they were worried about low economic growth.

Despite these challenges, BrickVest’s research indicates that Brexit could present some European commercial real estate investment opportunities.

Two fifths (39 per cent) of the 99 institutional investors who were surveyed felt that Brexit would increase the number of investment opportunities in European commercial property.

Just 22 per cent of the survey’s respondents believed the number of investment opportunities would decrease.

Emmanuel Lumineau, the chief executive at BrickVest, said: “Commercial real estate has seen increased inflows from institutional investors for a number of years now as the asset class has become more and more mainstream.

“Clearly, Brexit has created some uncertainties and will certainly present challenges for institutional real estate investors, however our research shows that European investors believe investment opportunities could increase.

“Since the vote in June last year, we’ve seen a huge increase in the number of investors joining the platform.

“We are experiencing strong levels of demand from investors for property as an asset class and it is clear that many of our users want to take advantage of the vote.”

Last week, a study from ECI Partners revealed that Britain’s fastest growing companies are shrugging off Brexit worries and expanding their business by targeting new markets in Europe and the US.

However, many firms are still concerned about the economic impact of the skills gap.