Barcelona enters the ranking of the ten most attractive European cities for investors in 2022, according to the EMEA Investor Intentions Survey 2021 report prepared by the consultancy firm CBRE. The Catalan capital is the ninth European city preferred by investors, ahead of Munich. London leads the ranking, along with Paris and Amsterdam, which are two places higher than in 2021. Berlin ranks fourth, followed by Frankfurt, Madrid, Copenhagen and Warsaw.
"The good performance of Barcelona's real estate, the sustained attraction of international companies and the existence of areas as powerful as 22@ have made Barcelona a very attractive and coveted location for large international investors," said the director of CBRE Barcelona, Xavier Güell.
Spain is the seventh favourite European country for investment this year, with Madrid and Barcelona among the ten most attractive cities. Germany once again emerges as the clear winner, leading the investment recovery and with several cities in the ranking of favourites. The United Kingdom moves up three places due to the dissipation of uncertainty over Brexit and is in second place, ahead of France, the Netherlands, Poland and Italy. The ranking is closed by Spain, followed by Ireland, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
Despite the prevalence of the omicron variant, the European investment market is in a better position than a year ago. In fact, 70% of investors established in Spain plan to increase their investment in 2022, ten points higher than the European average.
In 2021, Europe registered a record level in terms of investment volume, at around 360,000 million euros, an increase of 25% over the previous year. This year, increased market activity is expected to push investment volumes above pre-pandemic levels. Specifically, CBRE forecasts a 5% year-on-year increase in investment volumes in 2022, pointing to another record year, with a figure in excess of €375 billion.
The office segment will be one of the main drivers of investment due to a combination of improved expectations for a return to the office and strong fundamentals in this market. In fact, 44% of investors operating from Spain plan to invest in this market, 18% in the industrial and logistics segment and 17% in the hotel sector. Student residences and the healthcare sector will be the preferred alternative assets for this type of investor, followed by affordable housing and data centres.
Core and core-plus strategies will continue to be popular, but interest in value-add product will increase as they aim for higher returns. Specifically, 65% of investors operating in Spain will seek this asset class in 2022, much higher than European forecasts (37%).
The existence of an uncertain economic environment (23%) or the interruption of border reopenings due to new waves of covid-19 (17%) will be the biggest challenges for investors this year. These elements will also be compounded by possible higher than expected inflation (15%) or a weaker than expected rental hiring forecast (12%).
On the other hand, 78% of investors operating from Spain have already adopted ESG ('environment, social and governance') criteria, in line with the European average. Protecting future asset value (20%) and the environment (19%) are the main priorities, along with improving brand image (14%) or complying with relevant regulations (6%).
In terms of investment destination, 74% of investors established in Spain remain focused on Europe. If they are inclined to invest outside Europe, the United States is the preferred destination for most respondents.
CBRE's EMEA Investor Intentions Survey 2021 was conducted between November and December 2021 with more than 600 European-based investors.