Blackstone’s real estate investments for its Europe Fund IV have produced a net IRR of 19% to date, according to a source.

The real estate manager has completed 34 investments so far for the fund, for which it seeks to raise an additional $2bn (€1.6bn).

Blackstone, which had an initial capital raise for Europe IV of $4.5bn, has now deployed $2.9bn. 

Philip Charls, chief executive of the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA), joined REIT.com for a video interview during REITWeek 2014: NAREIT’s Investor Forum, held in New York.

Charls gave a broad overview of developments in the European property market, starting with the arrival of REITs in the Spanish market about a year ago. Spanish REITs have performed “very well,” according to Charls. He noted that hedge fund managers Paul Soros and John Paulson were among the first investors in Spanish REITs: “You can’t imagine a better place to start it off.”

Oaktree Capital Management has reallocated two senior members of its management to Europe as it looks to expand its presence on the continent, PERE's sister publication Real Estate Capital, reported today.

Managing directors Manish Desai and Ben Bianchi have been moved over from US-focused work to help with the drive alongside senior vice president David Snelgrove. Bianchi is understood to be located in London only part time whilst Desai is based in Europe permanently.

In the past two years, investment activity in Spain has increased dramatically. Two separate Spanish property portfolios recently sold for a total of €192 million.

The Spanish property sector has seen increased transaction activity since 2012, according to Real Capital Analytics. In the third quarter of 2012, Spain had €195.4 million in office, retail and industrial transactions. Sales volume soared during the fourth quarter of 2012 to €1.05 billion in sales. During 2013, completed Spanish property transactions totalled approximately €2.89 billion, including €1.35 billion during the fourth quarter as investors became more interested in the Spanish market.

TIAA Henderson Real Estate is buying a Spanish retail asset for €232m.

Ivanhoé Cambridge and Grupo Lar announced they had sold the Islazul shopping centre in Madrid, without naming the buyer.

Local Spanish press reported that TH Real Estate was the buyer.

Spain still offers real estate investors opportunity, despite increased competition and doubts over the market’s fundamentals.

The recent purchase by Starwood Capital of an €800m commercial real estate loan portfolio – known as Project Amazonia – from Bankia suggests the country still offers inroads, despite warnings this year that heightened competition was putting investors off.

As supply constraints emerge in large prime property markets such as London, and rapid re-pricing takes place in recovering markets such as Spain, investors should be considering mid-size European cities for buying, says CBRE. 

New York-based Cerberus Capital Management and Europe’s Orion Capital Managers have signed a deal to buy the Spanish assets of Sotogrande from its owner, NH Hotel Group. The value of the deal is €225 million, according to NH Hotel, which on Friday outlined the sale of its 96.997 percent interest to the private equity players that have both been actively investing in Spanish real estate since the 2008 financial crisis.

Asset management agencies have almost €264 billion ($337 billion USD) of European non-core real estate exposure. In a report titled European Real Estate Loan Sales Market, Cushman & Wakefield completed a thorough analysis of 10 European asset management agencies to determine their combined gross, or 'face-value', non-core real estate exposure and consequently estimate the expected levels of commercial real estate (CRE) loan and real estate owned (REO) sales in years to come.

In a report titled European Real Estate Loan Sales Market, Cushman & Wakefield completed a thorough analysis of 10 European asset management agencies to determine their combined gross, or 'face-value', non-core real estate exposure and consequently estimate the expected levels of commercial real estate (CRE) loan and real estate owned (REO) sales in years to come.

Cerberus Capital Management and Orion Capital Managers have signed a deal to buy the Spanish assets of Sotogrande from its owner, NH Hotel Group.

Revenue Management continues to change rapidly. The days of "right room, right person, right price at right time" have long disappeared. So how do you really measure success at the property?

In the past General Managers looked at occupancy. "We need heads in beds to stay afloat!" was the battle cry in many a property. "If we have people staying with us, we will have paychecks to live by." There was a constant drive for pushing the guest in the door at all cost, filling the beds to capture any revenue possible. Then...GMs realized that they were possibly losing money.

After staging a strong recovery, Madrid is forecast to be one of the best performing European office markets within the next two year. This change reflects the much improved economic backdrop, providing occupiers and investors with renewed confidence and optimism. Historically, the Madrid office market has correlated closely with corporate performance and employment levels.

After years in the wilderness, the hotel sector resurfaced with a bang in 2013. Yield compression in the mainstream office and retail sectors prompted investors to look elsewhere for higher yields. Volumes in hotel market have not been as buoyant this year but institutional appetite is just as strong.

Increased competition and yield compression in major office, retail and logistics markets are bringing other sectors – and more peripheral geographies – into the limelight.

Expo Real, historically an event for investors in the mainstream commercial sectors, this year raised more questions than answers. With so much capital still on the sidelines, where can it go? With prime yields down to eyebrow-raising levels, can less mainstream sectors provide more value? And how alternative are certain sectors?

Increased competition and yield compression in major office, retail and logistics markets are bringing other sectors – and more peripheral geographies – into the limelight.

Expo Real, historically an event for investors in the mainstream commercial sectors, this year raised more questions than answers. With so much capital still on the sidelines, where can it go? With prime yields down to eyebrow-raising levels, can less mainstream sectors provide more value? And how alternative are certain sectors?

The global property investment market grew to $788 billion in the year to June 2014, with New York hanging on to its title as the top city for investment, a new report shows.

Private capital has taken center stage in acquiring European commercial real estate loans and real estate owned for sale in Europe, with 75 percent of such sales going to private equity firms.

Research out today from Cushman & Wakefield also suggests that the scale of opportunity is massive in terms of buying from European governmental asset management agencies in particular, as they have so far sold €96.7 billion yet still have some €264 billion of gross non-core real estate left to offload. Indeed, that represents 45 percent of the total exposure held by all European financial entities.