GRAPHIC-Bounce in European property stocks: false start or turning point?

It's hard to be bullish about real estate in an environment of sharply higher interest rates. Two years of steep falls have made European property a short-seller favourite as sector valuations and investor positioning plunged to levels last seen during the 2008 global financial crisis. A gauge of European real estate shares has halved in value to about $131 billion since 2021, but the mood shifted in July as earnings expectations improved.