Paris Hotels Back on Track After Rocky Start in 2019.

 

According to global hotel consultancy HVS, hotels in Paris have seen a turnaround in Q2 2019 following a tough start to the year. pearl apartments

In 2018 hotels in the city had a 10.6 percent growth in RevPAR [rooms revenue per available room] year-on-year, but visitor numbers took a dip at the close of the year and the start of 2019 with the unrest produced by the 'gilets jaunes' movement. Visitation and bed nights from the Middle East, Asia and South America declined in the first quarter of 2019 contributing to fairly flat RevPAR increase in the year to far.

However, recent months have seen some revival in Paris, in part due to people flocking into the city for the Women's Football World Cup and the Paris Air Show as well as the return to relative peace.

"Paris has an incredibly well-balanced combination of business and leisure demand which, alongside London, had made it one of the most coveted places for hotel investment for over a decade," remarked research co-author Dayk Balyozyan, senior associate, HVS London.

"While the instability in Paris drove people to stay away, particularly international guests from outside Europe, this would only ever have been a short blip and we are now witnessing a recovery in both RevPAR, visitor numbers and average rates," he added.

According to the Market Pulse report Paris has a considerable hotel pipeline, with over 6,800 rooms, 8 percent of existing capacity, coming on stream over the next five years but about half of the new supply will be located outside the city centre. Major openings in the city during the coming year include the 72-room luxury Cheval Blanc hotel at the Samaritaine, and the 149-room Kimpton Hotel adjacent to the Opera. Other operators opening new properties include Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton and Accor.

"The on-going popularity of Paris means that the flow of additional rooms is unlikely to have a substantial impact on hotel performance going forward, but the luxury and five-star properties will feel the most pressure as a third of the new supply falls into this category," said Balyozyan.

"The general resilience and strong fundamentals of the Paris market indicate that a further increase in performance may be expected for the rest of 2019, September and October being generally stronger months for the city. The organizing of significant events such as the 2023 Rugby World Cup and the 2024 Summer Olympic Games will surely help preserve, and even improve, Paris's good performance."

Global Commercial Real Estate Investment Dips in 2019, But Demand Remains.

Global real estate consultant JLL is reporting this week that following a turbulent 2018, investment in global commercial real estate cooled in the first half of 2019 with year-on-year volumes down by 9 percent to $341 billion.

All three regions performed differently, with activity dropping in EMEA and the Americas while Asia Pacific smashed yet another record as volumes touched a new first-half high of $86 billion.

 

Structural upheavals continue to harm the retail sector while persistent political and economic uncertainty is also taking a toll on investor mood.

On the other hand, risk-free rates continue to plunge, decreasing financing costs and increasing spreads to property at a time when investors are hungrier than ever for yield. Although prices are elevated across many global markets, fundamentals are good, underwriting is rigorous, debt levels are generally moderate, and investors are still ready to access the sector, says JLL.

JLL further reports fundraising by private closed-end real estate funds hit its highest ever first-half level at approximately $80.3 billion. Meanwhile, dry powder continues to rise and today stands at a record $331 billion. As the present cycle continues to stretch, managers are finding it harder to deploy capital in an environment of rising pricing.

As JLL looks ahead to the second half of 2019, they still estimate investment to drop, by roughly 5-10 percent , to roughly $730 billion for the full year as investors continue to respond to the general global climate.