Real estate survey 2012: New players keep old lenders on the sidelines

Traditional lenders and private equity investors continue to slash exposure to all but the safest assets. But alternative providers of finance are growing their books and locking in attractive yields.

Traditional balance-sheet lenders have accelerated their withdrawal from commercial real estate senior debt, leading to a greater concentration of available capital on core markets such as the UK, France and Germany.

“We have seen continued retrenchment from traditional lending banks, and real estate debt is now relatively scarce. Indeed, a few of the traditional banks have become more overt about their lack of appetite; we’ve seen more names announce that they are not focused on real estate,” says Eric Adler, senior managing director and head of Europe with Pramerica Real Estate Investors in London.

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