The precarious nature of the global financial markets has done little to curb the appetite of investors seeking safe-haven opportunities within Europe’s key office markets. Persisting economic headwinds have reinforced investors’ “flight to quality” and an increasing focus on wealth preservation has pushed prime office values close to previous peaks, as investors looking to Europe away from their home markets seek to deploy capital yielding higher absolute returns, higher risk-adjusted returns, diversification — or a combination of all three.

A healthy interest

In terms of transaction volume, Europe’s office sector still makes up the most significant proportion of all commercial real estate sectors — around 50 percent of overall volume in the first three quarters of 2013, with investors drawn to the relative pricing and transparency, liquidity and supply of high-quality product. According to