Savills latest Netherlands Market in Minutes report highlights further growing investor activity with total volumes in offices, retail and warehouse sectors reaching €850 million in Q313, a 34% rise compared to last quarter. The rising number of transactions indicates that the Dutch investment market has bottomed out, Savills reports.
Clive Pritchard, head of Savills in the Netherlands, comments: “This growth is supported by a number of large portfolio transactions as well as private equity buyers further increasing their presence in the Dutch property markets."
According to the data, the focus of investors targeted the office and logistic markets. The office investment market totalled €365 million in Q313, similar to the previous quarter but four times higher than Q212. Whilst a large number of office investment transactions took place in the value-add and opportunistic market segments, the prime office segment remained strong in terms of investor demand. Over the past 18 months four large South Axis properties have been purchased and Savills believes it is very likely that more will follow within the coming months.
The warehousing market, and in particular the logistic market, boomed in the third quarter of 2013 with a total investment volume of €320 million, almost double the €170 million in Q213. This activity is mainly attributed to three portfolio deals, purchasers being Granite (€129 mln), Syntrus Achmea (€78 mln) and Delin Capital (€80 mln). All properties transacted are located in the major logistic areas within The Netherlands.
While the positive trend in investment volumes was indicated in Savills previous Market in Minutes in June 2013, the growth rate exceeded expectations. Investment volumes in the office, industrial and retail market, which reached close to €2 billion in 2013 so far, will, Savills suggests, clearly exceed the €2.5 billion of 2012.
In terms of the occupier market, commercial demand in Q313 totalled just over 1 million m², marginally higher than Q213. However, Savills does not see this slight improvement as an indicator for a recovering occupier market but states this will occur when sustained economic growth has become reality. The firm expects to see this growth in the medium to long term, but not in the short term.
Source: Savills
