An exceptional run in to 2012 helped push global commercial real estate investment volumes to $436bn (£271.6bn), according to Jones Lang LaSalle.

The total volume was up marginally on 2011 and by 36% on 2010 after concerns over the US fiscal cliff and pent up demand lifted Q4 volumes to $141bn, $22bn higher than the same period last year.

Concerns over the tax and spending deadlock in Washington saw US volumes surge 51% quarter-on-quarter as vendors feared capital gains tax increases and the need to allocate capital.

Europe beat expectations by matching 2011 in Euro terms, with the UK the most active market.

France, Germany and the Nordics all saw increased activity towards the end of the year.

Asia-Pacific had a consistent end to the year but full-year volumes were down slightly at $92.5bn, compared with $98bn in 2011, with slower economic growth in China blamed for the reduction.

JLL predicts 2013 will deliver volumes of $450bn-500bn on the back of the strong end to the year, following a similar pattern to 2011 and 2012.

Momentum will be maintained in the Americas with Asia-Pacific expected to improve and EMEA looking to record a similar performance to 2012.

JLL head of international capital group Arthur de Haast said: "The surge in the final quarter of the year demonstrates once again that real estate markets are well through the recovery phase of the cycle and are now supporting year-on-year increases in transactional volumes.

"Based on this evidence, we anticipate that 2013 will be another one of growth with global volumes set to be between $450bn and $500bn."

Global capital markets research director David Green-Morgan said: "The greater allocations to real estate from a number of institutional and private equity groups are starting to have a real effect on the global real estate investment market. The threat of higher capital gains taxes in the US triggered a wave of year-end transactions, but the underlying factor is the attraction of real estate in a low-yield, high-liquidity environment. Despite the improvement in values over the past three years globally, we are still 15-20% below the market peak. There remains a great deal of upside potential, particularly in secondary markets that have remained subdued since the financial crisis but are starting to attract investor interest given their more attractive yields."