It is a risky business these days penning articles on property prospects, especially when key milestones that could dramatically influence the outcome pepper the terrain between keyboard and print. That said, and writing in early February, things do seem to have cheered up quite a bit in comparison with the gloom of last year. While we can be under no illusion about the deleveraging challenge facing the economies of the industrialized world, the rally in financial markets at least reflects improving lead indicators in the United States, emerging markets and, to a lesser extent, even the euro zone, where liquidity, if not solvency, concerns have abated. Perhaps the markets sense that we are past the point of maximum uncertainty.

Meanwhile, cross-border investors remain suspicious of Europe and retain a wait-and-see approach. They are naturally averse to southern Europe, where currency risks are elevated, but also appear to be ambivalent about the open economies of the Bene