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Hotels in Greece and its surrounding islands have recovered significantly from the pandemic, driven by a surge in tourism, but trends remain uneven across the region as some hoteliers face labor shortages and other challenges.
So far this year, Greek hotels appear to be outperforming industry forecasts, although some in Cyprus and other resort markets have seen a slower rebound in tourism, which relies on visitors from post-Soviet countries. A survey by Greece’s central bank showed that the country’s first-quarter international tourist arrivals rose 74.7% year-on-year, while revenue rose 28.6%.
Despite the economic challenges, investor confidence in retail property remains broadly positive in the first half of 2023, with investment reaching £2.89bn due to increased demand for food outlets and strong demand for prime retail warehousing, according to brokerage Knight Frank .
Food store property transactions totaled £1.07bn in the first half, driven by two deals across the Sainsbury’s portfolio, with the remaining six months of 2023 expected to be driven by major sale-and-leaseback schemes at retailers Morrisons and Asda under new ownership trading activity will continue. Knight Frank figures suggest rent growth in the food store category may be paying off, with supermarket tenants committing to higher rents for new builds to support the viability of developments.
In the first half of this year, real estate sales totaled about 10 billion euros, a drop of about two-thirds from the same period last year, the lowest half-year total since 2012, and disillusionment in the German business investment market is spreading.
In addition to pricing issues, many securities companies said that there is still uncertainty in the future of office buildings. In the first half of the year, office property sales fell by about 75% year-on-year to 3.2 billion euros, and there were only 7 transactions in the triple-digit million euro range. According to JLL, the forecast for total sales for the full year 2023, covering all property categories, is currently below €30 billion.
After encountering similar difficulties in the first quarter, French commercial real estate investment fell further in the second quarter, and the transaction volume hit a new low since 2010.
“Economic activity continues to slow as investors take a wait-and-see approach in the face of rising interest rates and further monetary tightening by central banks,” said Antoine Grignon, head of investments at brokerage Knight Frank France. ” The total investment in the second quarter was about 2.4 billion euros. Investments in France since the beginning of 2023 totaled nearly 6.2 billion euros in the quarter, down 40% from the 10-year average and 51% from the first half of 2022.
Canada’s largest province capped rent-regulated apartment increases at 2.5 per cent in 2024, well below Ontario’s average inflation rate of 5.9 per cent.
Economists say the move leaves landlords unable to cope with rising operating costs including property taxes, utilities and maintenance, but the ruling Conservative government appears to be reaching out to inflation-weary consumers. The decision, which affects about 1.4 million rental households in Ontario, does not apply to rental or vacant residential units that moved in for the first time after November 15, 2018.
UCLA is buying a mostly vacant office building in downtown Los Angeles, the latest U.S. university to move into workspace that has been underutilized since the pandemic began.
UCLA bought the 334,000-square-foot trust building for an undisclosed sum after the previous owners struggled to attract tenants as COVID-19 slashed office demand amid the rise of remote work, university officials said. As demand for office space wanes, universities from New York to Atlanta to Los Angeles are converting cubicles into classrooms, lowering offers and attracting nonprofits and other nontraditional buyers.
This report is compiled from CoStar’s press publications in the US, UK, Canada, France and Germany.
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