*The US leasing market is noticeably stronger than other regionsas rent growth has remained positive while other regions haveflattened. As a result, the Americas region recorded both thestrongest quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year growth rates—1%and 3%, respectively, the report says. *Asia Pacific rents wereessentially flat during the quarter, and significantly short of the13.4% annual increase witnessed in Q2 2011. *Regional performancevaried widely. For example, Hong Kong quickly rebounded after therecession and reached its pre-recession rental peak in 2011.However, since then, Hong Kong rents have softened as occupiersseek to contain costs. Meanwhile, Bangkok rents continue to movehigher propelled by continued strong demand and limited futuresupply of Grade A stock in the best locations. *Amidst weakoccupier sentiments in EMEA, the EMEA Rent Index was slightlynegative once again this quarter, reflecting the uncertaintysurrounding the European Sovereign Debt Crisis. Regionaldifferences exist in EMEA as markets in more stable economies suchas the Nordics and Germany have performed better, and somemarkets—such as Dusseldorf and Munich—are expected to see continuedupward movement in rents in the near term.

*With the exception of the Americas, the Global and RegionalCapital Value Indices have seen little or no improvement since Q32011. *The relative strength of the Americas (posting a 1.5%quarterly growth) has driven the Global Capital Value index upwardat a modest rate. However, the global growth rate has been weakenedby the EMEA Capital Value Index, which fell 1% this quarter (itsthird consecutive quarterly setback). Meanwhile, the Asia PacificIndex level has held steady for the past several quarters.*Risk-averse sentiment continues drive property investors towardthe highly liquid, gateway markets. As such, asset values havestrengthened most in the U.S. gateway markets—including New York,Chicago, San Francisco and Boston—due in part to these markets’supply of trophy assets and their perceived liquidity. *AsiaPacific has not seen much change in the first half of 2012, butnotably, it is the only index where property values returned in2011 to its pre-recession peak back.