It’s a bit like one of those philosophy exam questions. The question at the top of the page is “What’s next?” The examinee puts “Don’t know” and quickly moves on to the next page and question. Some say that’s an astute answer that deals with the uncertainty out there, others that it’s too clever by half. The examinee gets full marks for the bit of the page used up but minus marks for the empty space — he or she could have amplified the terse answer in some way — taking the overall score for the question to dubious pass-or-fail territory. In terms of where real estate investing across Europe is heading, there would be empty space here, too, if I didn’t attempt a better answer to the question than “Don’t know”, so here goes.

It’s not as if there isn’t plenty happening, both in the wider economy and in real estate. There is — after years of standstill or sluggish growth, the European economy is finally moving broadly ahead, with some stand-out