In 2007, European residential investment volumes totalled just under €19 billion, or around 4 percent of overall investment across all sectors. For the year to the end of the first quarter of 2021, they totalled just under €65 billion, or 26 percent of overall investment, according to Real Capital Analytics.

Over the last three years, investment in the sector increased by 41 percent, while overall real estate volumes declined by almost 33 percent. While most of the decline in aggregate volumes took place over the last 12 months, residential volumes were more robust, increasing by 4 percent despite the uncertainties associated with COVID-19.

The transformation differed by country. In the UK, the sector increased from 1.5 percent of overall volumes in 2007 to 25 percent for the year to the end of the first quarter of 2021; over the same period French residential investment increased from less than 1 percent to 10 percent of overall volumes. In Germany, volumes increa