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Knight Frank's Europe MD Chris Bell on the Brexit winners and losers

Could the property investment markets in the CEE region benefit from Brexit, Eurobuild CEE has asked a European real estate market expert who comes from Great Britain. "Certainly I don’t see any negatives. I think relatively speaking Europe and Central Europe will do better relatively better out of this probably than the UK, certainly in the short term," believes Chris Bell, the managing director for Europe of Knight Frank.

"Naturally, there is the concern that funds will move out ot the UK, where there is uncertainty, to other places. In an uncertain world – and we certainly are in an uncertain world and Brexit has not helped with this – it's likely that funds will look for other locations. These undoubtedly include Warsaw and Prague. They are well-known, established and transparent markets. So I think they can benefit in relative terms from Brexit. Nevertheless, these markets have been performing well even without it. Of course, any additional strengthening would be welcome, but in any case, these markets have been growing every year," adds Chris Bell.

So you’re saying that the Brexit vote wasn’t a seismic shock? "I think initially it was a seismic shock, certainly in the UK – but that was a very emotional reaction. I think as things have panned out, we are beginning to see business doing what business does, which is returning to its normal activities and trying to deal with the situation. While traveling around Europe, I have recently been to Paris, Brussels, Prague, and now I'm in Warsaw and I don't see evidence of any earthquake here. Our business is continuing as before. If there are going to be any winners or losers in this situation, I have the impression that it will be the UK that does rather less well, but I don't foresee any fundamental change in continental Europe," explains the director of Knight Frank.

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