The political and economic uncertainty of the past year will likely persist in key markets throughout 2019, yet real estate continues to attract capital and demonstrate its enduring appeal as an investment asset class. The acquisition of income-producing commercial real estate increased by 3 percent to $963.7 billion in 2018, the third highest annual total on record, after 2007 and 2015.

The office market in Europe is flourishing, with 2018 total volumes at the same level as those of 2017, by far the most active year in the decade. At city level, Central London benefited from the return of activity from small and medium businesses and from the high demand from the Media Tech sector, reaching 1.4m sq m (+19% over 1 year). The four main German markets combined dropped 8% but still represented 3.04m sq m, well above the long-term average. Volumes in Central Paris diminished by 9%, notably due to the lack of very large deals (-30% in transactions over 20,000 sq m). Very high results were achieved in Vienna (+54%), Luxembourg, Lisbon (+21%), Milan and Warsaw (+10%).