UK reasserts itself as Europe's top retail property market

The UK has re-established itself as Europe's largest retail property market, as well as being the region's leading market for office space.

According to research by Cushman & Wakefield, the UK and other core markets such as Germany and France have enjoyed strong interest from investors, accounting for 61.4 per cent of all investment in 2011.

However the highest growth rates were seen in emerging markets, with Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) accounting for seven of the ten fastest-growing commercial property markets, namely: Bulgaria, Estonia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia and Croatia.

The other three were Switzerland, Denmark and France.

Michael Rhydderch, head of the European capital markets group at Cushman & Wakefield, said: "Distressed markets may offer the best high return opportunities in 2012 but strong interest in core markets will continue and the best should deliver stable and possibly improved values.

He said that the Nordics represent good prospects because of their economic growth and low market risk, while parts of CEE and Turkey could also represent strong opportunities.

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