1. India: International Hotel Brands Eye Expansion Amid Travel Boom
Most of India’s hotel operators are independent, but international chains increasingly have opportunities to capitalize on escalating domestic travel and a rise in global visitors as pandemic restrictions ease.
India’s Ministry of Tourism cited World Bank figures showing the country’s gross domestic product topped $3.3 trillion in 2022, rising nearly 28% from five years earlier. About 6.2 million international travelers came to India in 2022, still well below 11 million in pre-pandemic 2019 but far above the 1.5 million total for 2021.
2. UK: WeWork Lands Tech Company’s London Headquarters
Tech “unicorn” Multiverse will establish its London headquarters at WeWork’s facilities in the city’s Paddington neighborhood, the flexible workspace provider said.
Multiverse, which trains entrepreneurs though professional apprenticeships, is moving from another London location after leasing two full floors spanning a total of 20,000 square feet to house its United Kingdom workforce of 700. WeWork said Multiverse has adopted a hybrid work model and its move prioritized “inspiring, well-designed workspace” next to the Paddington station of the city’s underground railway.
3. France: Paris Weathers Plunge in European Property Deals
Paris is holding up relatively well in spite of plummeting commercial property sales volumes across Europe that hit their lowest point since 2010 in the second quarter of 2023.
Research firm MSCI said the €34.4 billion in European deals recorded in the second quarter represented a fall of 58% from a year earlier and marked the fourth consecutive quarter of declining sales. Paris was Europe’s most active market in the first half of 2023 and the only major region not posting a year-over-year decline, buoyed by several major transactions including a €700 million acquisition by LVMH and a €460 million purchase by Valesco Group.
4. Germany: Investors Plan Overhaul of Prominent Retail Center
London-based Signal Capital Partners and the Spanish Eurofund Group plan to invest €180 million in the modernization and realignment of an aging shopping center in Mülheim, Germany.
Known as Rhein Ruhr Zentrum in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, the 50-year-old property spans more than 200,000 square meters and is 30% vacant. Signal and Eurofund acquired the property for less than €60 million, with plans to add entertainment and dining offerings and possibly bring in a hotel. Conversion work is expected to start in early 2024 and last about three years.
5. Canada: Alberta Draws Residents Seeking Affordable Housing
Housing and rental prices are pulling people from other Canadian provinces to Alberta, where the province touts its affordability in major areas including Edmonton and Calgary.
Royal LePage, one of the country’s largest residential brokerages, said online searches on its site have been increasing since 2019 and are probably driven by out-of-province potential homebuyers. Alberta also has apartment rents averaging well below those of other provinces, even as its population growth is increasingly driven by migration from other provinces.
6. US: Blackstone Looks To Capitalize on AI With Data Centers
Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust is looking to invest in more data centers to take advantage of the growth in artificial intelligence.
In a shareholder letter, operators said the REIT has been watching the rapid rise of artificial intelligence technology for the past 10 months and is ready to take a deeper plunge into data center real estate, with plans to work with Blackstone Group-controlled data center firm QTS Realty Trust. The strategy comes amid the REIT’s recent decline in shareholder redemptions as the economy improves.
CoStar News>>
This report was compiled from CoStar’s news publications in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France and Germany.