Against the backdrop of generally buoyant European commercial real estate markets and overall moderate price increases, new lending by French banks to the professional real estate sector rose by 8% in 2014. While France continues to account for over 70% of new loans, its share contracted for the third consecutive year, due to the much stronger lending growth in other countries (+28.1%), in particular in the United States and in Asia, than in France (+2%). While some of the growth observed outside the euro area can be attributed to exchange rate effects (appreciation of sterling and the US dollar), volumes also rose sharply.