Austrian property investment grows

A leading provider for investment decision support, MSCI, announced that the total return in Austrian property investment rose to 5.9 percent in 2015 mainly due to the growth of capital value of residential properties. The latter saw an increase from 1.2 percent to 2.2 percent in 2015. As a result of this strong development, the residential properties total return amounted to 6.4 percent in 2015. It obtained the highest level of investments since the IPD Austrian Annual Property Index started in 2004 and turned out to be the most resilient sector so far. Total return in the office sector also climbed to 5.6 percent in 2015 driven by the increase in capital value growth from 0.3 percent in 2014 to 0.8 percent in the current year. The continued decline in retail property total return, which came down to 5.4 percent in comparison to 5.9 percent in the previous year, contributed to the decrease in total return. The executive Director of MSCI, Justus Vollrath, commented on the impact the residential and office sectors had on the overall positive result.