Hotel transaction volumes up 5% on the first half of 2017
Hotel transaction volumes reached US$29.2 billion in H1 2018, a 5% increase on the first half of last year. This was driven by a 23% uplift in investment in the Americas, with 95% of activity in the U.S. In the Americas, portfolio transactions were double those seen in H1 2017, while New York, Honolulu and Phoenix were the most liquid cities for single-asset sales.
In EMEA, investment volumes were down 8% at US$9.5 billion, due to a decline in single-asset sales. There has been a strong interest in portfolio sales, however, which represented 44% of first-half volumes (compared to 32% in H1 2017). The UK and Germany were the top two markets, with each seeing a 20% uplift year-on-year, while Spain ranked third.
In Asia Pacific, volumes totalled US$4 billion in H1 2018 – a year-on-year decline of 15%. There was a strong uptick in portfolio sales, with six portfolios worth US$1.1 billion traded. China has been the most liquid market, and this is expected to continue as Chinese investors look to the domestic market in light of restrictions on outbound capital, as well as the rise of domestic tourism and middle class consumption.
