RCA: Global Sales Bottom Is in Sight

NEW YORK CITY-A quarter of sluggish sales globally is hardly cause for celebration, unless that quarter’s results show a plateau from the prior one and suggest that the bottom is in sight. So says Real Capital Analytics in its latest global report, although the research firm warns that “there is no recovery in sight.”

The June edition of RCA’s Global Capital Trends reports that property sales in the Americas are projected at $8 billion for the second quarter, off just 6% from Q1 but down 83% year-over-year. In EMEA markets, Q2 transactions are off 24% from Q1 to $17.3 billion, a 71% YOY drop. However, Asia Pacific numbers are in the positive column, with RCA projecting an 18% gain on the prior quarter for a total of $23.3 billion–nearly half the global total for Q2.

Robert M. White Jr., RCA’s founder and president, tells GlobeSt.com that “we’re probably at the bottom” for transaction activity but the rate of upturn will be sporadic across the globe. “If anything, the downturn was correlated more closely across property rates and geographic regions than the recovery will be,” he says.