European Property Market Outlook - Q3 2020 - Aberdeen Standard ...
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For professional investors only, in Switzerland for Qualified investors only – not for use by retail investors or advisers. European Property Market Outlook Q3 2020 Shutterstock.com
02 European Real Estate Market Outlook “there is still likely to be substantial long-term damage from the crisis, while the risk of a second wave of the virus remains. ” Executive summary: • The Eurozone economy is staging a fairly strong, albeit still partial, rebound from its enormous coronavirus-induced contraction. Consumption and sentiment have improved more rapidly than production and construction, while Germany and France have been recovering faster than Italy and Spain. That said, there is still likely to be substantial long-term damage from the coronavirus crisis, while the risk of a second wave of the virus remains. European Real Estate Market Outlook in the context of Covid-19 • The true condition of occupier markets is tricky to read across 20 July 2020 Europe. The economic impact has been huge and so, too, has the fiscal policy response. This has left businesses and consumers The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) is the most suspended in an artificially robust position, which will not be acute challenge that the world has faced in many years. sustained indefinitely. Many governments have withdrawn The virus has spread across most countries around the world. lockdown restrictions fully or partially, with social distancing The outbreak has had a considerable impact on economic measures generally still observed. This is allowing some of the activity and we are in the middle of a sharp global recession. fiscal support to be removed, such as furlough schemes and Over recent months, many governments introduced other income support mechanisms. significant steps to stem the spread of the virus with varying degrees of restriction on movement, both domestically and • Capital flows held up surprisingly well in early 2020, but have internationally. These barriers have gradually been lifted in tailed off more recently. Comparing the first half of 2020 with the many countries and parts of the economy have reopened same period of 2019, volumes are down by 11% to €116 billion for with some positive signs of a rebound in activity. the first half of 2020. The number of deals fell by 22%, highlighting However, evidence of an increase in infections in areas where that large deals are holding up the average. Investors are social distancing measures have been reduced means we extending exclusivity periods on live transactions, placing their expect economic and social disruption will persist until a acquisition activities on hold to take a wait-and-see approach. vaccine is widely available. Governments and central banks • Looking ahead, our base case suggests All Property returns of have implemented unprecedented fiscal and monetary 1% per annum over the first three years and 3% per annum over stimulus to counter the economic effects of the virus. five years. The spread in forecast returns between sectors is The outlook remains highly uncertain. It is very difficult to large. The biggest decline in values in 2020 is expected for the hotel sector (-18%), followed closely by the retail sector (-17%). predict how the virus will affect asset prices and the global Residential, logistics and offices are expected to demonstrate economy over the longer term. stronger fundamentals under the current base case. All sectors Against this background, we will continue to focus on in-depth aside from residential (1.9%) are expected to see values fall over research and analysis, enabling us to adjust risk strategies and the year to June 2021. portfolios appropriately, as and when this is needed. We will, • Our top picks remain private rented residential and logistics, of course, also keep investors informed as our thinking both of which retain strong income characteristics and evolves. You can find our latest insights and updates at supportive long-term structural trends. We believe assets that https://www.aberdeenstandard.com/en/insights-thinking- carry the most robust cash flows will outperform over the aloud/coronavirus-updates-and-insights. short-to-medium term. And given the state of higher economic uncertainty, we recommend our funds reduce their risk exposure accordingly. Economic outlook • The Eurozone economy is staging a fairly strong, albeit still partial, rebound from its enormous coronavirus-induced contraction. Consumption and sentiment have improved more rapidly than production and construction, while Germany and France have been recovering faster than Italy and Spain. That said, there is still likely to be substantial long-term damage from the coronavirus crisis, while the risk of a second wave of the virus remains.
European Real Estate Market Outlook 03 “The true condition of the occupier markets is tricky to read across Europe. Market risk has so far been contained, but specific asset risks are higher.” • Eurozone gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 3.6% in the concern prior to this point and tenants delayed leasing first quarter of 2020, the largest quarterly contraction the bloc transactions. The slowdown seems dramatic, but in reality the has ever experienced. But given that lockdowns didn’t reach momentum was still strong relative to the historic first-quarter their greatest extent until late in the quarter and continued into average – the first quarter of 2020 was just 8% below this level. the second quarter, this is just a taste of the second-quarter GDP Office demand will slow in the short-to-medium term and we contraction. That said, higher frequency monthly and even daily expect aggregate vacancy rates to rise from 6% to roughly 8% in activity data suggests that activity has already bottomed and is the next two years. This is still two percentage points below the now rebounding surprisingly fast as lockdowns are eased. 10% peak in 2008. Meanwhile, renewed outbreaks of the virus have been local and • The most supply constrained markets in Europe are Berlin, contained, rather than large and widespread, suggesting that Munich and Paris’s central business district (which had rates of Europe can continue easing restrictions. less than 2% going into the pandemic). However, this led to rents • The upshot is that we are forecasting a fairly rapid recovery over climbing sharply in recent years and some markets could the second half of 2020. But it will be partial relative to the initial potentially be vulnerable to a correction. We have revised our shock, leaving permanent scars on the economy. office rental growth forecasts down from roughly 2% per annum (p.a.) over the following three years in December 2019 to -1.2% • Both monetary and fiscal policy have been deployed in p.a. from June 2020. Net effective rents could fall further with considerable size to keep the Eurozone economy on life support, higher incentives offered by landlords looking to secure tenants although the bigger picture is that more still needs to be done. and reduce void risk. The European Central Bank’s (ECB) Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme lifts asset purchases to around €175 billion • In retail, footfall has recovered sharply in many countries. per month for the rest of the year and allows the central bank to In mid-March, data from Hystreet.com showed footfall in deviate from its capital key if necessary. Moreover, the targeted German towns and cities fell to just 19% of the same level longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO) bank-lending in 2019. But by May 2020, this level was in excess of 80%, programme has seen strong take-up. Together these have compared with the equivalent week in 2019. Indeed, Eurozone retail contained spread-widening pressures and kept the bank lending sales surged by 17.8% in May, ahead of a 15% forecast. channel open. But the ECB will probably have to increase asset • However, retailers were the most likely type of tenant to request purchases again towards the end of the year as the recovery rent deferrals, according to our own rent collection data across loses pace. Europe. We believe that most in-store retail formats, aside from • Meanwhile, member states have announced fiscal stimulus supermarkets, will struggle over the short, medium and long worth around 4% of Eurozone GDP, while the European term against a more cautious consumer backdrop, surging Commission itself has made another 5% of GDP of support ecommerce sales diversion, and the shortfall in capital available. These measures are large relative to the past, and have expenditure required to reposition schemes to retain sufficient been very successful in limiting labour market damage. But more appeal and sales turnover. This will drive up store closures and still needs to be done. In particular, much rests on the EU leaders increase voids. Some temporary closures could easily slide into approving the proposed €750 billion recovery fund, which would permanent store closures if it is deemed unprofitable to start be an important step in mutualising some of the costs of trading again at reduced sales levels. For example, H&M has the crisis. closed almost 3,500 of its 5,000 stores globally and could end up closing non-performing stores. Occupier market trends • The true condition of the occupier markets is tricky to read • Logistics companies typically operate in a competitive across Europe. Market risk has so far been contained, but specific environment, which constrains profit margins. Shocks like the asset risks are higher. The economic impact has been huge and current pandemic are likely to create financial pressures for so, too, has the fiscal policy response. This has left businesses many. However, the strong demand drivers established prior to and consumers suspended in an artificially robust position, the pandemic have been accelerated through enforced changes which will not be sustained indefinitely. Many governments have to the way people source goods. Ecommerce has grown sharply, withdrawn lockdown restrictions fully or partially, with social with estimates putting total retail sales via online platforms at distancing measures generally still observed. This is allowing somewhere between 30% and 40% through the lockdown some of the fiscal support to be removed, such as furlough period. This is an acceleration of roughly five years of schemes and other income support mechanisms. pre-Covid-19 online retail sales growth. Take-up in the UK logistics market set a record level in the first half of 2020 and • The latest available data shows that office take-up across the while it is too early to see how other markets have performed, major cities of Europe fell 30% in the first quarter of 2020 anecdotal evidence suggests demand has held up well as compared with the same period in 2019. While lockdowns did companies have had to rapidly adapt to new supply chain needs. not start until late-February or early-March, there was growing
04 European Real Estate Market Outlook “We have revised our office rental growth forecasts down from roughly 2% per annum (p.a.) over the following three years in December 2019 to -1.2% p.a. from June 2020.” • Residential markets have held up well. Few jurisdictions have • Capital flows held up surprisingly well in early 2020, but have implemented specific rent support schemes, but broader tailed off more recently. Comparing the first half of 2020 with the income support meant most tenants have been able to continue same period of 2019, volumes are down by 11% to €116 billion in to meet their obligations. Indeed, only 1% of our residential the first half of 2020. The number of deals fell by 22%, tenants across Europe have requested a rent deferral through highlighting that large deals are holding up the average. the pandemic thus far. This could rise when the income support Investors are extending exclusivity periods on live transactions, schemes are removed, but we believe good-quality residential placing their acquisition activities on hold to take a wait-and-see property should still be resilient given the lack of housing approach. Additionally, formal and informal travel restrictions provision in many cities. Further ahead, the performance of the are making any ongoing processes challenging, as due diligence sector could continue to be supported by low void rates because and site visits remain difficult to perform. of even lower construction activity resulting from the barriers • Geographically, the lockdowns have had a specific impact on the raised by Covid-19. Student accommodation faces greater ability of some markets to close deals at the same rate as before challenges than standard rented residential real estate given the the pandemic. Indeed, Sweden, which did not implement a barriers to travel and the difficulties in students sitting the formal lockdown, has seen its share of total European required assessments – particularly for overseas students. investment rise from 9% in 2019 to 17% in the first half of 2020. Care-related residential real estate also has its challenges, Germany, which has also managed the virus more effectively but we see more short- and long-term resilience in the more than some others, has increased its share of total investment standard senior living sector. from 20% in 2019, to 28% in the first half of 2020. On the other Investment market trends hand, Italy has seen its share of total investment slide from • Some valuation uncertainty clauses still remain in place in 14% to just 3%, over the same time periods. Europe. They are gradually being lifted, starting with those • By sector, offices have remained the largest sector, with €56 billion markets and sectors where comparable evidence is more invested in the first half of 2020. Residential is now consistently the prevalent. We expect valuation methodology to return to normal second-largest sector, with €33 billion invested. Logistics looks set by the end of the year, on the basis that broad lockdowns do to challenge the record books once more with over €17 billion not return. transacted – almost knocking retail out of third place, with just European performance signals, Q3 2020 Performance Signals Current Signal Outlook Comment Demand shock to create a contraction in Eurozone GDP of 15% in Economic fundamentals 2020, with a partial rebound over 2021 but risker ‘W’ shape recovery still possible. Long bond yields are broadly at same level as at beginning of year. Macro Margin over bonds Spreads against BBB corporate debt are much tighter, implies greater scrutiny of riskier income. Monetary policy that is being deployed in response will not be able to Monetary policy fully offset the shock, but rather help the recovery. Supply likely to be higher than demand as economies slow down. Supply Big differences between markets in terms of vacancy risks. Slowdown in activity after lockdown; large entity transactions, Flows of capital residential and logistics deals keeping up relatively well. Lending much more selective, with large spreads on riskier assets. Lending Real Estate Pricing has become more expensive. Fundraising slowing further, but some new fund launches in the period Fund flows and some funds still raising capital. Volatile market, European real estate investment trusts (REITs) trading 360° view at close to a 10% discount to gross asset value as at 10 June. Many companies cutting dividends and funds suspending trading. Source: Aberdeen Asset Management, July 2020. Views reflect our view on Europe excluding the UK. MSCI/IPD; Thomson Reuters Eikon; PMA; RCA; CBRE, Investment Association; Aberdeen Standard Investments, March 2019. 360° view encompasses direct, indirect, lending and multi-manager views and market signals. Key: Supportive/Neutral/Unsupportive.
European Real Estate Market Outlook 05 “In light of the significant policy response we are seeing and the renewed expectation of ultra-lower-for-longer interest rates, the growing appetite for longer-duration income from real estate is a notable theme.” €18 billion. Within retail, the vast majority of investments were in • Geographically, in the short-to-medium term, we are more supermarkets, which clearly carry stronger fundamentals than concerned about markets that experienced more pain in the standard retail and shopping centres. global financial crisis and Eurozone crisis as a result of stress in the debt markets and sharp falls in liquidity. This would include • These investment trends are evident in the most recent yield Spain, Italy, Portugal and Ireland, while there are concerns data. According to data from CBRE, over the last six months, around corporate debt levels in other markets, such as France. secondary and prime shopping centre yields have increased by 63 basis points (bps) and 46 bps points, respectively. Hotel yields • Taking into account the highly uncertain market environment have taken the biggest hit from the Covid-19 pandemic, with a rise and the potential for capital value declines, we suggest an of 90 bps. In complete contrast, logistics yields have increased by extremely risk-averse approach in all aspects of our investments. just 23 bps. Offices have seen a stronger repricing, with a yield This means reducing financial leverage, development exposure increase of 14 bps. Residential was the only segment to see yields and focusing on longer and more robust cash flows. fall, with CBRE estimating a yield compression of six bps. Medium- to long-term investment themes • Overall we expect to start to see some falls in capital values in In light of the uncertainty, we are revising our overall outlook the coming months, particularly where tenant revenues are down. However, we still believe there will be core principles to more at risk or where bank finance conditions tighten sharply. consider on a sector basis. These support long-term trends in the This implies more pain for hotels, retail, leisure, student market that should hold true through the pandemic and once it accommodation and senior living. That said, we are less negative has stabilised. on capital values than in the previous quarter as the • Offices: this sector is not immune to the risks from Covid-19. fundamentals are all surprisingly better than expected. While other sectors are more exposed in the immediate future, • There are early signs that bank margins have increased by a more protracted and damaging lockdown could lead to sharp roughly 50-80 bps so far, with good-quality assets less affected repricing in the sector. Core long-leased offices are preferred for and lenders starting to price risk assets more cautiously. now and leasing risk should only be taken once a recovery is However, with swap rates remaining negative, the all-in cost of clearly under way. We anticipate an abrupt halt in almost all debt has not risen dramatically at this point. Loan-to-value (LTV) construction projects in the near future and this will limit new ratios are reducing and investors and banks are generally supply in 2020 and 2021 at least. Flexible offices could carry looking to trim loan portfolios and reduce financial risks. At this additional risk given the pain expected for small companies and point, LTV ratios are less at risk of breach, compared with income their untested financial strength. These should be avoided. cover ratios. Banks have so far demonstrated forbearance on assets where cash flows have temporarily dried up, but this • Industrial and logistics: this was the best sector to allocate to in could change in a more severe crisis. the last two years. However, the pandemic has abruptly halted and potentially damaged supply chains for some time. Performance outlook and risk tolerance There could be quite a lot of pain from some parts of the sector • It should be noted that any forecast in the current environment as logistics companies can be running notoriously tight profit is highly uncertain. Looking ahead, our base case suggests All margins. But longer term, we believe that new cohorts of society Property returns of 1% p.a. over the first three years and 3% p.a. over five years. This implies a decline in European real estate will have tried ecommerce who might not have otherwise done values of approximately 8% in the year to the end of March 2020, so and the trend to shop online could accelerate. Furthermore, resulting in a total return of roughly -3.3% once income returns there could be a growing reticence towards shopping in store are taken into account. Despite taking a slightly more positive after the difficulties experienced in the last few weeks. view on yields this quarter, yield impact remains the key driver of This would support our long-term view that there is stronger capital value declines. But there is also the risk of a temporary performance to come from urban logistics assets. and permanent loss of rental income from a combination of • Residential: private rented residential is showing resilience. lower rental levels, lower inflation indexation and higher voids. However, cash flows will, in part, be damaged by higher • The spread in forecast returns between sectors is large. unemployment and potentially by rent holidays. We still believe The biggest decline in values in 2020 is expected for the hotel that this sector should provide investors with long-term cash sector (-18%), followed closely by the retail sector (-17%). flows. Investors must be wary of lease convention, legislation Residential, logistics and offices are expected to demonstrate and potential changes to the outlook for cash flows. The best stronger fundamentals under the current base case. All sectors policy is to be highly focused on good amenities, accessibility aside from residential (1.9%) are expected to see values fall over and affordability within the local market and not to push income the year to June 2021. growth assumptions harder than is realistic and fair on tenants.
06 European Real Estate Market Outlook • Long-lease residential: there are strong, long-term demographic • Long income: as mentioned, no asset types will escape the virus drivers underpinning some types of long-lease residential. This is unscathed. However, in the long term, the current situation mainly in the form of senior living and student accommodation. reinforces the appeal of defensive assets with durable long-term However, the pandemic has severely affected the outlook for cash flows. In light of the significant policy response we are hotels and serviced apartments. These should be treated with seeing and the renewed expectation of ultra-lower-for-longer caution. Risks around the operators should be the focus of the interest rates, the growing appetite for longer-duration income underwriting, given the yield premium between operational from real estate is a notable theme. While conventional leases in assets and leased assets in this space. But with leases longer Europe tend to be shorter than 12 years in duration, there is a than 20 years often available, these segments can offer considerable number of longer-term leases available. These can diversification and income duration, albeit investors should wait be accessed through sale and leasebacks, forward-fundings, and until we know more about the immediate outlook before via sectors such as leased hotels, government offices and other investing. long-term commitments. We believe funds targeting these types of inflation-linked cash flows • Retail: while we are increasingly cautious on the outlook for will offer lower volatility and attractive risk-adjusted returns for almost all retail formats, particularly in view of the pandemic, some pools of investors. the long-term drivers are different across retail segments. Our preference is for supermarkets and convenience retail, where spending should be less vulnerable and where rental levels remain modest. Shopping centres are most vulnerable to emerging trends in consumption and have sustained serious pressure following the Covid-19 pandemic. Large-lot sizes are also creating a liquidity issue for the sector. Very low-yielding prime high-street retail is also highly vulnerable to a reduction in tourist travel and looks overstretched at yields close to 2%, with rents likely to take a hit. Contact Us Craig Wright Stephan Schanz Jon Vetrhus Head of European Real Estate Senior Real Estate Analyst Real Estate Analyst Investment Research Europe Europe
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