According to the latest research from Knight Frank, European commercial property investment hit €231.8bn in 2017 after €80.7bn was transacted in Q4, resulting in an 8.4% increase on 2016.

The continued flow of capital from Greater China into the Central London office market helped the UK regain its position as Europe's most active market from Germany, which had edged ahead in the first half of the year. Following a slow start to the year, investment in the UK accelerated in the last half of the year, bringing annual volumes to €59.3bn. German investment volume of €50.9bn was a ten-year high, and the country was the leading destination for US capital entering Europe in 2017.

The French investment market had an extremely slow start to the year, but it recovered in Q4, when more capital was invested than in the three previous quarters combined. This was partly due to a revival in investor confidence following political uncertainty earlier in the year. The market was dominated by local investors who accounted for more than 70% of transaction volumes.

Chris Bell, MD, Europe, at Knight Frank, commented: “Along with the strength of the UK, Germany and France, the stand-out markets in 2017 were the Netherlands and Finland, both of which had record years, on the back of large inflows of cross-border investment.”