Successive years of substantial office development in the capital, Warsaw, and in Poland’s regional cities have seen a significant increase in the overall volume of office space across the country

Successive years of substantial office development in the capital, Warsaw, and in Poland’s regional cities have seen a significant increase in the overall volume of office space across the country.

The start of 2017 saw the launch of four funds.

The main finding of this year’s Investment Intentions survey from INREV, ANREV and PREA is that investors expect to commit at least €52.6 billion of capital to global real estate in 2017.

According to Pangea Property Partners and as shown in the “Transaction activity” table on page 21, 2016 was a record year for commercial and residential real estate investment volume in the Nordic countries.

We live in an increasingly uncertain world, and with signs of more unrest and disruption on the horizon for 2017 the time may have come for real estate investors to reconsider their positions. Whether 2016 was the annus horribilis it was branded by certain sections of the media, it certainly witnessed a number of once-in-a-generation — possibly lifetime — events.

The case for European residential investment is compelling, for a number of reasons.

George Orwell’s novel 1984 introduced us all to Room 101, the torture chamber in the basement of the Ministry of Love where prisoners were subjected to their very worst nightmares. Somehow the stuff of nightmares was subsequently transformed into a BBC TV comedy series in which dinky celebrities are invited to discuss their pet hates with the world at large and persuade the host to consign those hates to oblivion in Room 101.