Europe’s commercial real estate investment market ran out of steam in the first quarter, after 15 months of scintillating growth left investors struggling to deploy capital in the continent’s biggest economies. It should prove to be only a temporary pause.

Looking forward, as economies improve, increasingly real estate performance may be driven as much by improving market fundamentals as by strength of capital flows. As a result, variations in both the local pace and timing of strengthening market fundamentals will likely differentiate the growth of real estate values at the asset level and across cities and sectors around the world.

The logistics sector is the unsung hero of the global economy and real estate market. Technological and societal shifts are set to have a positive impact on this unassuming asset class.

What’s worrying investors elsewhere these days — particularly in the Americas — is the threat of inflation and/or a disruptive rise in interest rates.

Investors have begun to review their attitude toward the Benelux region, inking major deals in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Fundraising activity started the year with a bang as 23 funds wrapped up their marketing efforts in the first quarter of 2014 with an aggregate $21.7 billion (€15.9 billion).

Cordea Savills has made its first investment in Denmark on behalf of the European Commercial Fund, acquiring a High Street retail portfolio in Copenhagen from Meyer Bergman for approximately €70 million.

Real estate fundraising has continued apace in Europe.

Apollo European Principal Finance Fund II, a fund affiliated with Apollo Global Management, has completed the acquisition of a portfolio of 18 European hotels from Ivanhoé Cambridge.

Opinions are mixed on what the economic sanctions that have been imposed on Russia and Russians for their supposed transgressions in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis might mean for the high-end London residential market.

Located south of Düsseldorf in the densely-populated federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne is the fourth largest city in Germany, with more than 1 million inhabitants. With take-up levels of 64,000 square metres, Cologne’s office market had a very strong start to the year, producing the third-best first-quarter results in 10 years.