Europe Economics Update Merkel wins strong mandate to stick to her guns While Angela Merkel did not win enough votes to govern alone in yesterday’s election, her strong support was a clear vindication of her domestic and international policy stance so far. She is likely... 23rd September 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update Still a long way to go for Italian and Dutch GOEF liquidations Changes to the legislation governing German Open-Ended Funds (GOEFs) this year seem to have been well received. The overall value of the sector has stabilised and new fund launches are being planned... 19th September 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update What next for French and German capital values? September’s MPC minutes suggest that, despite the arguably disappointing impact of forward guidance, the Committee is happy with its policy stance. A resumption of quantitative easing (QE) before the... 17th September 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German ZEW Survey (Sep.) & Euro-zone Trade (Jul.) German investor sentiment strengthened in September, suggesting that the economic recovery should continue, albeit at a slower pace than in Q2. But the fall in euro-zone export values in July suggests... 17th September 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Bavarian state election points to national grand coalition While the CSU, sister party to Angela Merkel’s CDU, won a clear victory in Bavaria yesterday, the poor showing for the FDP bodes ill for the current coalition at a national level. The chance of Mrs... 16th September 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update What would a left-wing coalition mean for Germany? The possible coalition of Germany’s SPD, Green and Left parties after next week’s election would probably mean slightly higher taxes and spending than under the more likely alternatives of a grand... 9th September 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German & Spanish Ind. Prod./ German & French Trade (Jul.) Data for July revealing falls in German and Spanish industrial production and a deterioration of Germany and France’s trade balances support our view that the eurozone’s economic recovery will be very... 6th September 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update What can we glean from regional unemployment data in the euro-zone? Unlike in Germany, regional labour market data from elsewhere in the euro-zone do not give much of a steer on the likely near-term paths of local office market vacancy rates. However, they do suggest... 6th September 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Outlook No boom, but better times to come The economic outlook for the euro-zone has brightened since our previous Analyst, prompting us to increase our forecasts for commercial property capital values and total returns. Indeed, our less... 28th August 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German Ifo Survey (Aug.) August’s sharper-than-expected rise in German Ifo business sentiment added to the recent encouraging signs that the economy is recovering. 27th August 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Weekly Germany to fund more than a third Greek bail-out? German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble’s acknowledgement last week that Greece needs more aid seemed like a statement of the obvious. Encouragingly, however the size of any new bail-out will be... 26th August 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German GDP Breakdown (Q2) The second release of Q2 German GDP confirmed that the economy expanded by an encouraging 0.7%. But while the recovery should continue, a closer look at the data suggests that the pace of growth will... 23rd August 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Commercial Property Update What is the outlook for German office vacancy rates? The German economy seems to be getting back onto a solid footing. However, given the normal lags between developments in the economy and the property market, changes already seen in regional labour... 22nd August 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update German minimum wage won’t rebalance the euro-zone Germany seems set to introduce a national minimum wage after September’s election. But it will probably do little to boost German consumer spending or to rebalance the euro-zone more generally. 13th August 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German Industrial Production (Jun.) June’s German industrial production data point to a healthy rise in GDP in Q2 and the sector could continue to build up steam in the near term. 7th August 2013 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German Ifo Survey (Jul.) July’s small rise in the German Ifo added to evidence that the economy is gathering momentum, but the recovery is likely to be relatively modest. 25th July 2013 · 1 min read
