PARIS-Investment in the French property market should recover only modestly this year, with activity curbed by concerns about a fragile leasing market, fierce competition for core assets and a gap between sellers' and buyers' price expectations, according to a survey of institutional investors by Investment Property Databank and the Paris Ile-de-France regional development agency.

There has been a renewed investment appetite since 4Q09 but these factors will continue to hamper activity in the second half, and 2010 is now expected to total only $12.7 billion, compared with a forecast of $14 billion in March. This represents only a slight recovery from the low point of $10.8 billion last year and is well below the $39 million in boom year 2007. Insurance companies and German funds are expected to be the most active investors in French property this year. The IPD/ARD (Agence R