Although several European countries continue to be coping with property and economic crises, international investors remain bullish concerning the European property market, driving further growth in several European property markets into 2018 — with the exception of the UK, שטחים למכירה which will be experiencing a post-Brexit uncertainty. Considering the uncertainty in the European property market, is buying property in Europe still attractive? And, most importantly, can investors expect an excellent return on the property investments in today’s climate? As Head of the Real Estate Investment Strategy at BNP Paribas Fortis, Pol Robert Tansens has expertise in the region of wealth management. Mr Tansens talks about the major European real estate trends and השקעות נדלן בחול the outlook international buyers can expect when they choose to buy property in Europe. BNP Paribas Fortis offers a comprehensive network of specialised branches for expats, with extended opening hours. Their specialist multilingual advisers are pleased to answer all of your questions whenever it suits you best. Why are real-estate investors still flocking to Europe? Just a couple of years ago, everybody was predicting the conclusion of Europe — especially the conclusion of continental Europe — but we’ve still seen ever-increasing property prices as investors flock to the markets, particularly in the primary cities in Germany and, now, several Nordic locations. But real-estate markets in Europe, whether commercial or residential, are in fact very expensive. Given that crises are high and property assets are trading at incredibly low property yields, this makes the underlying value of properties very high. So just how is it possible that a continent experiencing modest economic growth with a still-low inflation — though improving, albeit slowly — continues to attract investors from all over the world? The answer is straightforward: השקעות נדלן בחול it’s all connected to the monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB), and it has nothing to do with real estate. With the ECB’s loose monetary policy of keeping interest rates artificially low — in early September 2017, in reality, the ECB decided to help keep interest rates at 0.00% for an “extended amount of time”— investors don’t see some other possibility than investing in real estate. Buying stocks could be too risky as they are volatile, and bonds are costly considering yields are still hovering around really low levels. Even if it is expensive and the yields are not high, property still offers a cash yield or השקעות נדלן בחול perhaps a net rental income of a few percent, which really is a high return compared to zero interest offered on other assets. But, in ways, it is also dangerous that property prices are supported by this monetary policy of the ECB. The truth is that some emerging markets are in some trouble with declining growth rates, turmoil, lower commodity prices and volatility in currencies. Rich investors from emerging markets are looking at Europe because they had to diversify as a result of such problems. For a continent that has been a whole write-off less than a decade ago for investors, those same investors are now buying Europe. Everything we have been predicting is the actual opposite: there are property markets performing well in general with lots of international capital flows. Essentially, real estate is equivalent to a secured bond, particularly if you buy in the prime property markets in Germany, for example. But anywhere in Europe, you still have the possibility of an improved economy and higher inflation positively influencing your investment. This really is the primary reason why real estate in continental Europe and recovering markets has performed so well.