For many of us, it has been a scorcher of a summer. Temperatures have hit the mid-40s in countries such as France, where it was decided to postpone national diploma school exams in June. It was simply too hot to expect students to sit in stifling conditions and apply their minds to the intricacies of algebra or Balzac.

Things are heating up within commercial real estate, too. MSCI released figures in July showing that the market rose to an estimated $8.9 trillion (€7.9 trillion) in 2018, up from $8.5 trillion (€7.6 trillion) in 2017. If you’ve seen the report, then one result that may have captured your attention was that China has replaced Germany as the fourth-largest real estate market in MSCI’s rankings.

It has been hard to keep cool at IREI this summer, too. We have been extra busy working on how we can keep improving the way that we serve you. This has meant focusing on a number of things, including getting valuable input from our editorial advisory board