A survey of 167 European real estate investors carried out for Union Investment by Ipsos has found that investors have gained confidence from the improving economic situation across Europe and are now prepared to consider adapting their investment strategy by moving up the risk curve and exploiting opportunities in the core-plus and value-add space. There is a recognition, however, that going up the risk curve also brings a need for better management of risk.

The survey points to the following broad strategy changes: investors are once again investing outside the major European cities; they are no longer automatically excluding the markets in Europe’s southern periphery; and they are returning to doing more big-ticket deals.

Particular findings are that investors in the principal European markets of France, Germany and the United Kingdom are increasingly willing to accept shorte