Commercial real estate deleveraging in Europe has unwound at greatly differing paces across jurisdictions to such an extent that some early-mover markets are now entering the final phase of legacy disposals, while in other jurisdictions the real work is still ahead. The unfolding experience of bank deleveraging, and the contrasting experiences between markets as well as within them, has been defined by government responsiveness to the credit crisis, market liquidity and property fundamentals.

In the United Kingdom, the contrasting experience of the state-rescued clearing banks exemplifies the opposing investment strategies at the heart of this era of deleveraging: the steady sale of loan and asset pools at a pace that institutions can afford, or a delay in sales to try to benefit from the recovery in liquidity and property fundamentals. Lloyds Banking Group opened up the market in the United Kingdom and Ireland with its programme of loan portfolio sales, while Royal Bank of S