Continued global rise in distressed property

The UK- based Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has reported a global increase in distressed properties in the second quarter of the year. It highlighted Ireland, followed by Spain, Italy, Hungary and Portugal as having the highest incidences of properties under foreclosure or for sale by their mortgagee.

RICS also said that it expected more distressed sales in the third quarter of the year, with survey respondents in Africa and the Middle East saying they expected a rise. In South Africa, this marks a turnaround from the first quarter of the year, when the expectation was for a fall in distressed sales.

However, RICS said commercial real estate markets were more stable in non-Japan Asia, Latin America and Russia, where it expects the supply of foreclosed properties to decline. It added that this trend came despite interest rate rises in many of these markets over recent months.

It also said that there was an increased appetite from investors and specialist funds for distressed properties in many markets. It saw increased interests from either investors or funds in 20 of the 25 countries surveyed, with the up-tick most noticeable in Japan and Hungary, followed by Poland, Italy and Russia.

For more information, visit www.rics.org/economics