Kyiv, February 7, 2014. The results of the EY’s Real Estate Assets Investment Trend Indicator conducted in October – November 2013 showed that 66% of the respondents rated Ukraine as an attractive investment location in 2014.

The trend indicator is based on the survey of 500 companies from 15 European countries. Results for the Ukrainian study were gathered from 32 companies that have been active in the local real estate market in recent years.

“The survey was conducted during the active phase of the negotiation process on the signing of an association agreement between Ukraine and the EU. We believe that it is the timing of interview-taking that can explain optimism and positive sentiments investors demonstrated during the survey on the back of acute recession prowling around the country”, says Sergii Kekukh, Head of Real Estate Advisory Services in EY Ukraine,.

"Despite investors’ positive expectations regarding growth of the number and volume of transactions, currently the main barriers are long-drawn political crisis, accompanied by a deterioration of the economic situation and impossibility to make reliable forecasts even in the short-term perspective, - said Sergii Kekukh . – We still believe that Ukrainian real estate market has significant potential, which is confirmed by the results of our survey, but unfortunately, the demand for Ukrainian real estate has been put on hold."

Market attractiveness continues to improve across Europe

Besides Ukraine, the survey has been conducted in 14 further European countries. For the first time in three years, the majority of respondents in all European countries believe that their real estate market is an attractive investment destination. The change in sentiment is particularly striking in Spain and Italy. A large majority of respondents expect transaction volumes in their local market to be higher in 2014 than they were in 2013. Many European countries no longer view the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis as the main driver for real estate investments. However, just in four countries the majority of respondents expect inflation not to be a driver of real estate investment. The CMBS market is anticipated to rebound in 2014. This revival is expected to be particularly strong in the most liquid property markets of the central Eurozone. In most of the countries surveyed, the majority of respondents expect prices for office space in prime locations to remain stable or increase and see online shopping as a key danger to retail stores in less popular locations.