Business
Demand For Distressed Property Rises
It has been revealed that demand for distressed property is on the increase in more countries than it used to be known.
According to latest Global Distress Property Monitor results from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) published recently and male available to The Tide in Port Harcourt, Interest in distressed assets increased during the fourth quarter of 2011, higher than that of the previous quarters.
The fourth quarter survey shows that respondents in 21 of the 25 countries included in the report indicated that demand from specialist funds rose at the fastest pace in Scandinavia, where 45 per cent more respondents saw interest rise, rather than fall.
This was closely followed by the United Arab Emirates, Italy, France and Japan. Only three countries reported falling investor appetite in China, Singapore and the Czech Republic.
Despite this, the level of distress property coming to market is set to continue rising into the first quarter of 2012, the survey suggests.
Respondents in 17 countries expect supply to increase and at the fastest pace in Euro zone markets. Some 87 per cent of respondents in the Republic of Ireland anticipate more foreclosed selling in the first three months of 2012, followed by Portugal, Spain and Italy at the top of the ranking.
RICS says that the ongoing sovereign debt crisis in the Euro zone is clearly weighing on sentiment, as property professionals in even France and Germany also anticipate more distress selling.
The economic news flow remains mixed at best, and sentiment in the real estate sector is still fragile in much of the world as a consequence.
Given the ongoing and intensifying problems in Europe, it is little surprise that respondents in many of these countries are more pessimistic, as was noted by the RICS chief economist, Simon Robinson.
“The rise in the number of countries reporting rising investor appetite for distressed assets may be viewed as an indication that prices in the market place are getting closer to offering value,” Robinson said.