Published by Gbaf News
Posted on September 6, 2017
7 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Two in five (40%) institutional investors plan to increase their investment allocation to European commercial real estate over the next 12 months despite Brexit uncertainty being the number one challenge. This is according to a new study1 with property-focussed institutional investors by BrickVest, the real estate investment platform.
The study highlighted that three in five (60%) 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%) thought political uncertainty would be the biggest challenge while nearly two in five (37%) suggested it would be low economic growth. 31% highlighted rising interest rates and 25% felt it would be rising inflation. A fifth (22%) cited increased regulation as the biggest challenge for investors over the next 12 months.
Despite these challenges, BrickVest’s research did highlight that Brexit could also present some European commercial real estate investment opportunities. Two fifths (39%) of institutional investors felt that Brexit would increase the number of investment opportunities in European commercial property. Just 22% felt the number of investment opportunities would decrease.
Eighteen months after its successful launch, BrickVest remains the only pan-European online crowd investing platform that allows its community of investors to invest directly and actively manage their investment in institutional grade commercial real estate investment opportunities.
The firm announced its first successful exit alongside CORESTATE Capital Group, the residential portfolio and commercial real estate markets investment firm, featuring a sizeable national German retail portfolio of 23 assets. European investors who invested in the BrickVest Fund Harvest 1 LLP have achieved returns of 31%. In comparison, the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Europe Indexgenerated return of 18% over the same period.
Emmanuel Lumineau, CEO at BrickVest, commented: “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.”
| What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing European investors in commercial real estate over the next 12 months? | |
| Brexit uncertainty | 60% |
| Political uncertainty | 46% |
| Low global economic growth | 37% |
| Rising interest rates | 31% |
| Rising inflation | 25% |
| Increased regulation | 22% |
| Property bubble | 15% |
| Lack of supply | 12% |
| Lack of demand from the Asia | 9% |
| Lack of demand from the Middle East | 3% |
Source: BrickVest (August 2017)
BrickVest’s founding team has an extensive experience in real estate, investment services and technology. BrickVest is shifting the model of how to invest in real estate across the globe by combining the best practices of institutional quality investing in real estate with cutting edge technology, first-class governance and regulatory framework that puts the investor first.
The firm has also continued to demonstrate its commitment to democratise best in class governance and risk management standard, becoming the only European online real estate platform to gain a Full-scope AIFM license, the highest regulatory fund management standard in Europe, in an industry known for its opacity and lack of governance. These vetted investment opportunities with strong risk management framework were previously only accessible to large institutions such as pension funds and insurance companies.
Investors interested in signing up and viewing BrickVest’s pan-European real estate investment offering can do so at https://brickvest.com/en/ .
Two in five (40%) institutional investors plan to increase their investment allocation to European commercial real estate over the next 12 months despite Brexit uncertainty being the number one challenge. This is according to a new study1 with property-focussed institutional investors by BrickVest, the real estate investment platform.
The study highlighted that three in five (60%) 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%) thought political uncertainty would be the biggest challenge while nearly two in five (37%) suggested it would be low economic growth. 31% highlighted rising interest rates and 25% felt it would be rising inflation. A fifth (22%) cited increased regulation as the biggest challenge for investors over the next 12 months.
Despite these challenges, BrickVest’s research did highlight that Brexit could also present some European commercial real estate investment opportunities. Two fifths (39%) of institutional investors felt that Brexit would increase the number of investment opportunities in European commercial property. Just 22% felt the number of investment opportunities would decrease.
Eighteen months after its successful launch, BrickVest remains the only pan-European online crowd investing platform that allows its community of investors to invest directly and actively manage their investment in institutional grade commercial real estate investment opportunities.
The firm announced its first successful exit alongside CORESTATE Capital Group, the residential portfolio and commercial real estate markets investment firm, featuring a sizeable national German retail portfolio of 23 assets. European investors who invested in the BrickVest Fund Harvest 1 LLP have achieved returns of 31%. In comparison, the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Developed Europe Indexgenerated return of 18% over the same period.
Emmanuel Lumineau, CEO at BrickVest, commented: “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.”
| What do you believe are the biggest challenges facing European investors in commercial real estate over the next 12 months? | |
| Brexit uncertainty | 60% |
| Political uncertainty | 46% |
| Low global economic growth | 37% |
| Rising interest rates | 31% |
| Rising inflation | 25% |
| Increased regulation | 22% |
| Property bubble | 15% |
| Lack of supply | 12% |
| Lack of demand from the Asia | 9% |
| Lack of demand from the Middle East | 3% |
Source: BrickVest (August 2017)
BrickVest’s founding team has an extensive experience in real estate, investment services and technology. BrickVest is shifting the model of how to invest in real estate across the globe by combining the best practices of institutional quality investing in real estate with cutting edge technology, first-class governance and regulatory framework that puts the investor first.
The firm has also continued to demonstrate its commitment to democratise best in class governance and risk management standard, becoming the only European online real estate platform to gain a Full-scope AIFM license, the highest regulatory fund management standard in Europe, in an industry known for its opacity and lack of governance. These vetted investment opportunities with strong risk management framework were previously only accessible to large institutions such as pension funds and insurance companies.
Investors interested in signing up and viewing BrickVest’s pan-European real estate investment offering can do so at https://brickvest.com/en/ .
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