European real estate investment volumes to reach €156bn for Q1-Q3 2026
According to Savills latest research, European real estate investment volumes are forecast to reach €156bn for Q1-Q3 2026, a 4% year-on-year increase.
However, the international real estate advisor says that the continent’s recovery continues to be uneven. Over the first nine months of the year, investment turnover in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is expected to be 34% above the equivalent period last year, followed by the Nordics at 25% and Southern Europe at 20%. By contrast, investment volumes in Western Europe are down 5%.
Savills says that Spain continues to attract significant capital, supported by resilient economic performance and an attractive relative sovereign risk premium. In Italy, large transactions are supporting investment activity, with retail, particularly out-of-town, hospitality and logistics seeing strong interest. Value-add capital remains prominent, alongside a gradual return of core investors.
In the Nordics, Sweden’s softer quarterly estimate for Q3 follows a strong first half of the year supported by several large transactions. Savills continues to see robust appetite from domestic and Norwegian groups and an active pipeline, with scope for an improvement in Q4. In CEE, Poland benefits from intra-regional capital flows, particularly from Czech investors, while defence and manufacturing activity is increasingly supporting the outlook for industrial demand.
James Burke, director, Global Cross Border Investment at Savills, says: “The living sectors now account for more than 30% of European investment volumes over the first three quarters of the year. This has been complemented by a continued revival in retail investment activity, with shopping centres attracting particular interest.
“In terms of capital sources, we continue to see robust intra-European capital flows from UK, French, Swedish and German investors. US investors remain the largest source of international capital into the European market, with Canadian investors expected to become even more active in the future.”
Lydia Brissy, director in Savills European commercial research team, says: “Prospects for broad-based yield compression have faded, and outward movements are now expected across more markets and sectors. Offices and retail are likely to show the greatest divergence, as pricing increasingly distinguishes prime assets from secondary stock. In this environment, investment performance will depend less on market-wide yield shifts and more on income growth, effective asset management and the ability to uncover opportunities where pricing does not fully reflect the underlying potential.”