And significantly, €10 billion ($8.7 billion) of transactions completed in the last quarter of the year, up 21% on the same quarter in 2000. This leads DTZ to forecast that 2002 could see more cross0border investment in Europe than ever before. Peter Collins, head of DTZ EuroInvest, said: 'The European property investment market remains robust with US and German investors dominating activity. There is a paucity of quality institutional stock on the market but, despite this, given the appetite for large portfolio acquisitions, I believe that by the end of 2002 cross border investment will once again reach more than €26 billion and may even surpass 2000's record figure.'

US investors dominated the market in 2001, accounting for 40% of all cross-border transactions, against 37% in 2000. German investors once again accounted for 21% of all transactions with the Dutch accounting for 12%. Middle Eastern investors were more active in 2001 after a relatively quiet 2000, investing about €1.3 billion ($1.1 billion) in Europe. But Far Eastern investor activity was, once again, negligible totalling only 1% of transactions.

The UK and France were again the most popular targets for foreign investors with a combined 62% market share. The biggest growth markets were in France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and in Central and Eastern Europe. The UK, Italy and Spain all experienced a fall in investment.