Real estate industry expects tough year ahead in Europe, with reduced finance, declining values and looming recession

Real estate business confidence and expectations of profitability have dropped to a low level, reflecting widespread industry concerns across an array of indicators for the business, political and real estate environments, according to Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2023, the 20th annual survey by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PwC UK of European real estate sector leaders’ expectations for the year ahead.

Based on the views of around 900 real estate leaders from across Europe, the report found 91 percent concerned about inflation, closely followed by interest rate movements (89 percent) and European economic growth (88 percent). Political uncertainty at the global, regional and national levels are of high concern as well.

Looking ahead, only 13 percent see inflation being a problem in five years’ time, while interest rates (73 percent) and growth (76 percent) remain medium-term concerns. From a real estate business perspective, const