Report: Global Property Investment to Rise in 2011

Real estate experts are projecting that investment in commercial property may rise by up to 25 percent worldwide this year due to buyers’ increasing confidence in the market, which helped produce the most deals in the fourth quarter since 2007. A new Jones Lang La Salle, Inc. (JLL) report showed that the total amount spent on shops, offices, and warehouses climbed by more than 50 percent to $316 billion last year.

The Americas and Europe showed the strongest rebound in 2010 from the steep decline in commercial property sales in 2009, caused mainly by banks’ curtailed lending. Brazil more than tripled office spending to a record of $3.4 billion, the report said.

“Barring further sovereign debt crises or financial shocks, the momentum of 2010 is expected to continue over the next 12 months and we predict global volumes for 2011 should increase by 20 to 25 percent,” said the head of JLL’s International Capital Group, Arthur de Haast.