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INTERVIEW-ING sees Dutch property slump until Q3 2010

Published 05/27/2009, 10:21 AM
Updated 05/27/2009, 10:24 AM
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* Retail, office property first to recover in Q3 2010

* ING Dutch head doubts if UK recovery will come earlier

By Gilbert Kreijger

AMSTERDAM, May 27 (Reuters) - Dutch property prices are expected to fall for another twelve months before showing signs of recovery in retail and office property prices, the head of ING Real Estate Finance Netherlands told Reuters on Wednesday.

Prices of residential property, which fell 3.1 percent in the first quarter, are expected to fall further and stabilise in the second half of 2010, said Peter Gobel, country manager for ING Real Estate Finance Netherlands.

"The bid and ask spread in the property market is still too large. Buyers are not willing to pay what the seller wants," said Gobel, whose unit managed 19.4 billion euros ($27 billion) in property loans at the end of 2008.

"There are buyers but parties are putting money at the bank. I think that's wise, to try to build some reserves."

Gobel declined to give percentages of expected price falls.

ING Real Estate, part of Dutch bank and insurer ING, managed a total of 106.4 billion euros globally at end-2008, and lends out money to Dutch property firms such as Corio, VastNed Retail , and privately-held companies.

A "second wave" of property price falls in Britain this year had surprised Gobel, he said.

"It started earlier and it hit harder but I don't know if it's justified to say that recovery will come earlier. That remains to be seen. I strongly doubt it," Gobel said about the UK property market.

Gobel's unit has hundreds of millions of euros available to grow its portfolio, although he said ING may not lend out all the money in the Netherlands because many clients were still not ready to tap into it.

"We're open for business, we have the funds available to services clients. But you see that the market has not yet reached the bottom." ($1=.7172 Euro) (Editing by Simon Jessop)

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