PricewaterhouseCoopers has released its Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2010 survey, which was conducted for the seventh time this year in cooperation with the Urban Land Institute (ULI). According to the report, İstanbul was followed by Munich, Hamburg, Warsaw, London and Zurich in real estate development prospects. London ranked at the top in investment opportunities in new property acquisitions, and Munich, Hamburg, Paris and İstanbul followed it. Munich led Europe in existing property performance, a category where İstanbul ranked seventh. In last year’s survey, İstanbul was ranked third for investment and first for development prospects, with a view that the city would be less affected by the economic problems besetting the rest of Europe.
According to the report, which was conducted by interviewing a wide range of more than 645 industry experts, İstanbul was mostly recommended for retail investors. A total of 28.3 percent of survey respondents advised making retail real estate acquisitions, while 19.8 percent recommended office acquisitions. Filiz Soyuer, a board member of ULI, who announced the survey results at a press conference on Monday, stated that retail will be one of the leading fields receiving the lion’s share of investments to be made in İstanbul. The report foresees that office investments will be concentrated in İstanbul’s Kağıthane and Kartal districts, predicting that locations along subway routes will enjoy more development.
The report also states that the survey’s participants are cautiously optimistic about the prospects for real estate in 2010.
