Real Capital Analytics’ European commercial real estate investment report for Q1 2017 gave the usual broad parameters for the main trends and activities in the quarter but here’s a little extra detail. Germany is the premier European destination for real estate investors, its role as a safe haven in this period of political uncertainty coming to the fore, and has extended its lead over the United Kingdom. The country’s Q1 2017 transaction volume number of €16.5 billion, up 33 percent on the year before, is its strongest start to the year on record, says RCA. The office sector was the principal beneficiary of investor interest in German commercial real estate in the first quarter, and nine German cities featured in RCA’s list of Europe’s Top 20 investment destinations, as detailed below. Just like some of those metro areas in the United States might sound strange to non-US investors, so too might “Ruhr Valley” to people who think that Germany is just