European commercial real estate loan and REO sales totalled €40.9 billion in the first half of 2014, according to Cushman & Wakefield, as loan sales transaction volume begins to accelerate in the region.

The European loan sales volume in the first six months of 2014 was 30 percent higher than the total for all of 2013. Part of the increase was due to the large number of mega-deals, which made up 71 percent of the closed transactions, Cushman & Wakefield reports. Average loan sale transaction size increased from €346 million in 2013 to €621 million in the first half of 2014.

In particular, record loan sales volumes are taking place in Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom. For example, Ireland’s loan sales volume in the first six months of the year is up 116 percent compared with the total for the whole of 2013. And transactions in Spain are on the upswing, propelle