Cautious optimism in C&W Property Investor Confidence Index Q3

Stockholm, 31 August 2020 - Conditions on the Swedish real estate market have fluctuated strongly since the virus outbreak, something that clearly affected the result in Cushman & Wakefield's Swedish Property Investor Confidence Index for Q2, launched in April. Now during Q3 a cautious optimism is seen in the results. Investors are more positive about their own portfolios and are also planning more acquisitions ahead of the autumn.

Demand for premises and retail space from tenants is generally still expected to fall, although not as much as in April. For industry / logistics, on the other hand, the development is expected to be more stable, which is also reflected in yield expectations for the future. The worst expectations are still predicted for the retail segment. For offices, on the other hand, the majority see unchanged yield levels. The segment that stands out most positively in the autumn is the housing segment; here, 20% of investors predict even declining yields. The segment that investors assess to cope with current market conditions better than others is mainly housing, closely followed by public properties. In addition to this, interest in logistics has increased heavily since the previous survey in Q2.

Kristoffer Sandberg, Head of Capital Markets at Cushman & Wakefield in Sweden, says: “Although most investors are still interested in offices, they are clearly less likely to buy projects / vacancy risk, which until March this year was rather considered a potential for future rental development. We currently see the greatest interest in housing, public properties and logistics, where the latter is driven by the very strong growth for e-commerce, which has intensified even further now during the pandemic.”