Hotel investment volumes reached €8bn (£6.7m) in Europe, the Middle East and Africa during the first three quarters of 2013 – only slightly behind levels for the whole of 2012.

According to the latest report by global property advisers Colliers International, total hotel transaction activity in EMEA is expected to exceed the €8.3bn transacted in 2012 before the end of the year.

The most liquid market continues to be the UK with €2.1bn of hotels transacted, followed by France with €1.6bn and Germany with €773m. The most dominant buyers of hotel real estate were institutional investors, which increased their share in the total hotel investments from an average of 39% in the past five years to 50% in 2013.

Investors were also very active in Amsterdam, Munich, Frankfurt and Vienna, with €744m invested in German hotels so far this year. This was boosted by the acquisition of the Queen Moat Portfolio by Fattal Group of €285m in Germany in the first quarter of 2013.

Dirk Bakker, head of Colliers International’s hotels team in the Netherlands, said: “Investors are primarily concentrated on prime assets in core markets subject to relatively stable economic conditions in western Europe.

“In addition to the UK, France and Germany, Amsterdam is becoming more en vogue due to an over- stressed market in Paris and London. In contrast to the rest of Eastern Europe, Poland was deemed one of the most promising countries for investors.

“The total transactional volume in 2013 will most likely outperform 2012.”

The investors surveyed are actively looking to expand their portfolios in EMEA in 2014, with a focus on development opportunities. Recycling capital was their main motivation for disposing hotel assets.