The latest 2012 European Hotel Transactions report notes that total hotel transaction volume remains below the 10-year average of $12.4 billion since 2002. Involving some 101 transactions with 301 hotels and more than 39,000 rooms, 2012 total volume was positively above the 2009 trough of $2.6 billion.
“In comparison with 12 percent in 2008, high-net-worth individuals have their increased acquisition activity, accounting for 24 percent of transaction volume in 2012,” says Luis Gril, report author and analyst, HVS Hodges Ward Elliott. “Private equity firms have decreased their activity with seven percent in 2012 compared to 17 percent in 2008, a direct reflection of the lack of debt available to leverage acquisitions.”
Hotel operators, high-net-worth individuals, and real estate investors-together accounting for 69 percent of total volume-dominated single transactions in 2012.
The UK was the most active market for single asset transactions with a total volume of almost $1.8 billion and some 33 hotels and more than 6,000 rooms sold. Germany accounted for nine percent of single asset transaction volume. Total portfolio and corporate volume last year across Europe reached more than $2.9 billion-a 31 percent decrease on 2011 levels.
The Host Hotels & Resorts’ acquisition of the Quintet Portfolio-the most significant transaction of 2012-strengthened its presence in Paris and Amsterdam with the addition of five hotels from Goldman Sachs’ Whitehall Funds and Gengate.
