There were times during the most recent of many Greek crises that the Greek Finance Minister approximated Dirty Harry, waving a .44 Magnum in the face of the European Union and asking if it felt lucky. But in the end, the gun was out of bullets, and Greece capitulated. Greece needs German money to stay solvent. Germany will only hand over that money in exchange for structural reforms. Unsurprisingly, that's what we will now see. The result of these negotiations will, of course, severely disappoint the voters who elected the Greek governing party, Syriza, on the expectations of an end to austerity and we may yet see another snap election as a result.
However, for the time being Europe will carry on with the status quo, with financial and real estate markets focusing on the positive impact of QE, forcing down the yields of reliable income-producing assets. This hunt for core income is pushing investors into markets that are lagging the UK, France & Germany in their repricing, and the Netherlands is a clear example of this trend. Accordingly, we take a closer look at its recent economic and retail sector performance in this edition of Europewatch.
Source : CBRE Global Investors