The real estate market is becoming increasingly polarized. The same has been true of investment since the start of the new school year, with a succession of good news and bad.
On the one hand, transactions are slowing down, and sometimes stalling. Prices being renegotiated downwards. Marketings postponed. In short, it's been a bruising summer for France, mired in a never-ending political crisis, penalized by a downgrading of its financial rating, penalized by growth revised downwards to 1% in 2026. This litany of uncertainties is weighing on the morale of many domestic and international investors alike, who, in the absence of visibility, are happy to procrastinate, without however completely writing off France as a destination.
On the other side of the coin, jumbo deals are taking shape. The biggest deal of the year in France will undoubtedly be the acquisition of Proudreed's industrial portfolio. A €2.3 billion deal for a portfolio of nearly 500 assets comprising business parks and premises, plus a small amount of local logistics. An asset class that's hard to classify in France, but which is home to a network of SMEs throughout the country. The Anglo-Saxon equivalent of "light industrial".
Once again, a transaction of this size is only accessible to a handful of investors, usually Anglo-Saxon. In this case, it was once again the giant Blackstone who positioned itself and seems to have made Europe in general, and France in particular, a privileged playground.
What can we learn from this transaction, which is expected to close at the end of the year? Firstly, that capital is still present in real estate, even if it is much more selective. In addition to beds and sheds, investors still have strong convictions in production real estate, which could include logistics, business, industrial and, in the future, data centers.
Secondly, France remains a fertile breeding ground for these investors. This should reassure us about the country's attractiveness, which has been battered in recent months by the zeal sown by our political class. They seem to be more focused on the Lépine tax competition than on the country's real strategic issues.
This should also convince us that we are at the dawn of a new cycle. That of an economic awakening and the reindustrialization of Europe. Mario Draghi has given us the instructions. On its own scale, with the Proudreed deal, Blackstone is betting that France will remain at the center of the game.