• Four of the top ten European cities were German
• 30% of institutional investors believe that Brexit will offer more European commercial real estate investment opportunities
• 61% do not believe that real estate investors have enough access to a secondary property investment market
• BrickVest aims to provide users with access to a secondary market in the next few months

Following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, nearly two in five (38%) institutional real estate investors cited London as the top European city to invest in commercial real estate, ahead of Berlin (36%), Munich (31%) and Paris (22%).

According to a new study by BrickVest, the real estate investment platform, one in five (21%) cited both Dublin and Hamburg and a further 16% selected Frankfurt, highlighting a clear positive trend towards German commercial real estate. Indeed 40% of the top ten European cities were German.

BrickVest’s research showed that three in ten (30%) institutional investors believe Brexit will either increase or significantly increase European commercial real estate investment opportunities. A further one in four (23%) institutional investors believe that Brexit will have no impact on commercial real estate investment opportunities.

The research did however highlight some concern regarding the illiquidity of commercial real estate investing. Three fifths (61%) of respondents do not believe that, in light of £1.4 billion² being pulled from UK property funds post Brexit, real estate investors have enough access to a secondary property investment market.

BrickVest is aiming to provide access to a secondary market over the coming months that make previously illiquid real estate investments tradable, enabling users to offer properties to other investors.

Emmanuel Lumineau, CEO at BrickVest, commented: “Our research has identified London as the number one European city to invest in commercial real estate as investors seek to capitalise on potential price discounts and market uncertainty. However Germany dominates across the leaderboard and we have seen plenty of appetite from investors looking to capitalise on income producing portfolios across Europe and take advantage of the Brexit vote. 

“BrickVest sets itself apart by providing UK and European investors with a unique liquidity platform to a traditionally illiquid asset class. To create liquidity in the market you need to have a lot of buyers and sellers who trust that the market is far, regulated and prices are transparent. On that basis people can trade”.

“Like any trading market out there, you need a critical mass but you also need standardisation, automisation and trust, as well as institutional quality to make it happen which we believe is lacking in our real estate industry.”

In light of Brexit, which European cities are you currently looking at/planning to look at for commercial real estate investment? (survey with 96 investors)
London	38%
Berlin	36%
Munich	31%
Paris	22%
Dublin	21%
Hamburg	21%
Frankfurt	16%
Barcelona	11%
Zurich	11%
Amsterdam	10%
Brussels	10%
Copenhagen	10%
Warsaw	5%
Milan	4%
Madrid	3%
Stockholm	1%

Source: BrickVest (October 2016)

BrickVest allows investors to invest from EUR 1,000 in real estate that previously was only accessible to large institutions such as pension funds, insurance companies and large family offices.

BrickVest offers a range of investment opportunities allowing investors to select an opportunity based on the preferred asset class, geography and return profile. Unlike property crowdfunding platforms, which first need to raise enough financing from investors in order to acquire a property, all the investment opportunities on BrickVest’s platform to date have already been closed. This means that investors can immediately acquire their stake in the property.

BrickVest has unlocked the ability to combine unparalleled ease of access and transparency while providing an institutional-level investment platform with liquidity, supported by reputable fund service providers.

European investors interested in signing up and viewing BrickVest’s pan-European real estate investment offering can do so on https://brickvest.com/en/.