Friday, January 25, 2008

Dutch Office Property A Safe Haven: Savills

Source : The Business Times, January 24, 2008

Prime Dutch office properties could provide a safe haven for those who want to invest in real estate but sidestep falling values in Britain's embattled market, research published yesterday by property services group Savills showed.

After a period of uncertain occupier demand, Savills said that double-digit year-on-year rental growth in the Netherlands' prime office market encouraged record investments of 4.5 billion euros (S$9.4 billion) in 2007, as investors spooked by the falling capital values in UK property flocked to more stable commercial real estate markets.

Savills said that foreign buyers would have to work hard to penetrate the upper end of the Dutch property market but that the potential rewards were worthwhile, with steady average annual returns of 8 per cent.

In contrast to larger markets like the UK, where some banks have recoiled from property lending since securitisation markets seized up, Dutch banks were still willing to lend to equity-driven property investors, Savills said. -- Reuters

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