Over recent years, Chinese capital has been the engine of European real estate investment, but are we now at a turning point in the investment cycle? With all of the recent press speculation about the long-term health of the Chinese economy, the spotlight will inevitably turn to whether Chinese capital, which for the past five years or so has been the engine of the investment market, is starting to dry up and whether the fuel for this engine can be as readily available as it has in the past.

The loss of the Broadgate Quarter sale in London, which was sponsored by Hines Real Estate to a Chinese investor, on the grounds that local economic difficulties triggered the investor’s withdrawal, has been put forward as evidence of an inexorable deterioration in confidence and of a lower future flow of Chinese capital into European real estate.

Reasons to be cheerful

Short-term instability was obviously less than desirable for the seller of Broadgate Qu