A. The mood was buoyant, very upbeat. There is a ton of capital chasing deals in Europe just as there is in the U.S. Sure, there were discussions on some of the issues in Europe we read about in the States – one of the panel events was titled “Migrant Crisis a Threat to Growth and Prosperity,” yet another panel was called “Overseas Capital Hits 50% in Germany.” The latter panel touched on the fact that North American private equity funds have been the largest investors in Germany this year, accounting for 28% of deals and half of the total investments by volume in commercial property.

Q. What were some of the other panel discussions at Expo Real that struck an interest with you?

A. There were several panels that were forecasting an uptick in M&A activity including brokerage, banking and even developers. One of the speakers said that merger activity typically increases in up cycles like the one we are currently in; sellers are more likely to sell when their businesses are thriving because the valuations are higher. During Expo, ULI's Europe division released a report calling for cities to become denser in order to thrive and survive based on the notion that if they don't get denser they run the risk of becoming irrelevant to their populations and incapable of producing the economic and social drivers that make them desirable to live in. ULI studied Birmingham (England), Dresden, Istanbul, Stockholm and Warsaw. It was interesting to me because we're seeing a similar trend here in the States with cities like Cleveland, Minneapolis and Kansas City becoming more urbanized with people moving back to the city centers to live.

There was also a panel on market conditions in the U.S. that was moderated by Ulrich Steinmetz, managing director from Rreef, who said his company was buying American assets in core markets where safety is one of their main criteria. As such they were willing to accept cap rates in the 4% to 5% range. That led to a conversation by the panel that concluded one of the safest real estate investments anywhere is ultra-high end retail shopping districts such as Bond Street in London, Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles, Michigan Avenue in Chicago and a select-few others. Part of the investor attraction to these districts is that if you lose a tenant you don't have to invest in expensive retrofits because luxury-brand tenants will do their own improvements. However, cap rates can be even lower – sub-4% on prime high street retail!

Check back with GlobeSt.com in the next day or two to learn more about what some of Homsher's CORFAC colleagues were saying about commercial real estate conditions in their respective regions, and more on adding affiliates from other parts of the globe.