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Direct investment in retail real estate in Europe during the first three quarters of 2010 reached EUR 15.2 billion, over 90% up on the same period in 2009 (EUR 7.8 bn).

Investment volumes during Q3, the quieter period of the year, held steady against Q2 volumes and totalled EUR 5 bn. Ten deals of at least EUR 100 mln were completed in Q3, most notably Unibail-Rodamco's acquisition of seven Simon Ivanhoe shopping centres in Poland and France for EUR 715 mln.

The UK, Germany and notably Poland together accounted for 80% of total investment volumes in Q3 (EUR 4 bn). Whilst Poland has seen a healthy demand for retail real estate investment in 2010, a number of transactions did not complete in the first half of the year, JLL said. However, Q3 saw it leapfrog into third place behind Germany with the completion of Unibail-Rodamco's acquisitions in Warsaw.

Agata Sekula, head of CEE Retail Capital Markets, said: 'Due to the favourable macro-economic situation in Poland and positive retail sales (6.6% up in August 2010 y-o-y), investor interest in prime shopping centres in Warsaw and the regional cities of Poland has increased markedly. However, the time needed to complete a transaction has increased substantially with investors undertaking very thorough analysis of every aspect of the property in the due diligence process.

'Although only a few retail investment transactions have closed so far in 2010, including the landmark Unibail-Rodamco acquisition of the flagship Arkadia shopping centre in Warsaw plus Warszawa Wilenska shopping centre from Simon Ivanhoe, there are a number of other important deals in advanced negotiations that should finalise before year end or the first quarter of 2011.'

Germany continued to see increasing interest from international players to supplement the strong domestic market, which resulted in further yield compression during Q3 2010. The increasing availability of finance and the improving economic outlook continues to boost investment demand, with over EUR 700 mln completed in Q3, including two Aldi sale-and-leaseback portfolios giving the supermarket operator over EUR 260 mln from sales to Allianz Real Estate and MGPA.