A new report from the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers signifies that things are beginning to pick up again in the housing markets, at least from an investor's point of view. Amid the up and down reports over the last two years, this latest one from PWC seems most encouraging.

 

The PwC Real Estate Barometer, which analyzes real estate data, showed that the commercial real estate market is showing particularly good signs, thanks in part to increasing confidence amongst consumers and businesses. It predicts that both the office sector and the multifamily housing sector will be well on the way to recovery by the end of the year.

 

However, the retail sector's recovery may well be delayed till sometime next year, as it is currently hampered by inflation fears and a lack of consistent spending among consumers so far. Despite this blip, investors are not being dissuaded from buying. In fact, the opposite is occurring, with many showing interest in acquiring retail properties for cheap now, before the market stabilizes.

 

One sub-sector of the retail market is bucking the trend though, showing solid signs that it is already in recover – the luxury retail sector. As one keen investor, the Retail Management Consultants chief George Whalin put it, “anyone who has this kind of money is not afraid to spend it right now”.

Overall, the retail sector is doing better than expected anyway. Originally, it was not expected to recover until sometime between 2013 and 2016, but now it seems things will pick up a lot sooner than that.