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Lauchlan Leishman is property agent and parnet of Berkeley Capital Group Limited which offers real estate listing for homes for sale in various regions across Australia, Dubai and Asia.

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5 Top Markets For Commercial Property Investment

 If you're seeking to improve your personal financial security, then having a single source of income (upon which all of your financial obligations rely) is certainly no longer an option. If there's anything people have learned from the recent global recession, it's that having a full-time job is no longer an assurance that you'll always receive a salary to pay for your needs. In an instant, your employment can be taken from you — and when that happens, where will you get the funds to stay on top of your monthly bills, pay for your children's tuition, repay your mortgage, and take care of other financial needs? You can be left penniless all of a sudden — all because you failed to set up an additional income stream to serve as your backup.

Look around and see the properties rise

Those who have heeded the call to become smarter, money-wise, typically turn to properties first and foremost. After all, properties are safe investments; you can purchase a house, apartment, or condo unit and have the option to sell it in the future should you need the money, or for the purpose of purchasing yet another piece of property — a bigger or more valuable one this time.

Think commercial, too

This is an ideal financial strategy, but it's important to keep in mind that residential investment properties aren't the only prizes you should be keeping your eye on. There's also the option of investing in commercial properties, which would be an interesting addition to your portfolio.

Some of the advantages of investing in commercial properties are: your property can produce income that is directly related to the usable square footage; you receive greater cash flow when you rent out multi-unit properties; your lease will be longer compared to that of residential properties, which means your cash flow will be stable for a longer period; and your risks are diversified.

Once you decide that investing in commercial properties is for you, your next step would be to look at the best locations to put your money in. To guide you in your decision, the real estate specialists at Lauchlan Leishman share information on the top five markets for commercial property investment below, as revealed by a report from Reuters highlighting the vibrant commercial real estate scene in Europe in 2014 (http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/04/europe-property-idUSL6N0VD2GI20150204):

Paris — Investment volumes in this popular city experienced a 31 percent rise in the last year, thanks primarily to economic and political uncertainties in 2012 and 2013 which caused assets in Paris to become attractively priced in comparison to the rest of Western Europe.

The UK — Regional markets (Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow) performed better than London in the past year, rising 16 percent.

Germany — Similar to the second-tier markets that performed especially well in the UK, areas like Cologne, the Ruhr Valley and Stuttgart demonstrated better strength than more distinguished areas like Hamburg, Munich and Berlin.

Ireland — Investments rose to 89 percent during this period.

Spain — A 134 percent surge was observed in the country.

Overall, Europe enjoyed an increase of 13 percent in 2014 over its investment volumes in 2013, which is equivalent to $241.7 billion in commercial real estate transactions. So if you're ready (and financially capable) to begin aiming for your commercial property investment goals, then a trip to Europe to scope out the best investment opportunities is in order.