1. Spain: Hotel deal price sets national record
Spanish investment firm Spring Hotels Group acquired the 1,037-room Mare Nostrum Resort Tenerife for €430 million ($506.7 million) in what brokers said was the largest single-property hotel deal in the country’s history amid rising investor interest.
Spring Hotels purchased the resort on Tenerife in the Canary Islands from Brookfield Asset Management, according to brokerage Colliers. The property includes a Hard Rock Café and one of the region’s largest event venues. The deal was a milestone for the Canary Islands, reinforcing its recent position as a strong hotel investment destination, according to Gonzalo Gutiérrez, Colliers’ regional managing director for hotels.
2. UK: Rugby World Cup winner joins JLL team
Former rugby star Matt Dawson now competes in commercial real estate for JLL, after joining the global real estate services firm as an executive director in the United Kingdom. Part of England’s victorious 2003 Rugby World Cup team, Dawson’s new challenges include boosting business on behalf of JLL’s high-value clients across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
“I thought I had a pretty good handle on JLL, but that was until about four weeks ago when I arrived,” Dawson told CoStar News. “Since then I have sort of been on a firehose of a journey to truly understanding the capabilities, and it is amazing.”
3. France: Paris office leasing wanes
Office leasing in the Paris region continued to head lower in the second quarter as companies seek to control real estate costs in a challenging economy, according to regional brokers and analysts.
Leasing based on square footage in one high-profile Paris enclave, known as Île-de-France, dropped 21% from a year earlier in the second quarter and declined 12% for the first half of 2025, according to data firm ImmoStat. Yannis De Francesco, a French regional executive director at brokerage JLL, said trends reflect prospective tenants’ “very cautious approach to decision-making” as rents remain elevated in portions of the Paris central business district.
4. Germany: Economic uncertainty jolts commercial investment
Lingering political and economic uncertainties suppressed Germany’s commercial property investment in the first half of 2025, reflected in a lack of major transactions particularly in the second quarter, regional analysts said.
According to BNP Paribas Real Estate, nationwide transaction volume for the first six months fell 7% from a year earlier to €11.4 billion, though brokerages such as CBRE, JLL, Colliers, Savills and Cushman & Wakefield cited volumes as low as €10 billion. Deals for retail properties totaled around €2.9 billion for the first half, making that category the strongest despite a 20% decline from a year earlier.
5. Canada: Trade disputes, oversupply weigh on apartment demand
Trade disputes with the United States and the high number of new apartments being built in Canada are weighing on the country’s housing market, according to a new report from Oxford Economics. The national average asking rent for apartments dropped 3.3% from a year earlier in May, with Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto posting the steepest declines.
Weaker demand resulting from slower immigration and “fewer temporary residents will also curb demand for rentals,” the forecasting firm said. “However, worsening homeownership affordability and financial strain on households amid the trade-war-induced recession will likely keep a floor under rental demand in the coming quarters.”
6. US: Store closings on pace for record year
Driven largely by retail bankruptcies, U.S. store closings are on pace to reach a record level in 2025 if retailers follow through with planned shutdowns, according to Coresight Research.
The data firm tracked 5,822 announced closings through June 27, representing an estimated 123.7 million square feet of retail space. That outpaced the 3,960 announced store openings, totaling 74.5 million square feet, during the same period. At the start of 2025, Coresight predicted closings would reach a record of roughly 15,000 for the full year, with openings totaling 5,800.
This report was compiled from CoStar’s news publications in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France and Germany.