Welcome Back to Reality, Folks!

Credit: la Repubblica

Okay, let’s talk once again about the rating agencies. But this time positively—well, not that much, to be honest, but I’m trying to do my best… Let’s put it this way: Yes, usually they are months late, but in the end they get it right. That’s exactly what happened yesterday, in Cannes, with Standard & Poor’s chief economist for Europe, Jean-Michel Six, who speaking at MIPIM, the world’s largest property conference, said, “If we look at what Italy has done in a few months, we cannot but be surprised. Now Italy is over-performing the other countries.” As for 2012, he said that it will be another “very dangerous” year: “We have to see what will happen in emerging markets, but I don’t want to paint too dark a picture, because there are also situations of positivity, such as Italy” (Il Sole-24 Ore, in Italian). In other words, he now acknowledges what (almost) everyone already knew a couple or three months ago. As the saying goes, better late than sorry!

By the way, Bernhard Berg, chairman of the management board of IVG Institutional Funds GmbH, one of the major real estate companies in Europe, is on the same wavelength: “After what happened in the last few months,” he said, speaking at the same meeting, “investors ask us to invest in Italy and we are studying the market. The change of government is seen very positively by foreign investors; therefore we are doing our homework by studying the market” (la Repubblica, in Italian).