German commercial property investment volume surged 28% in the first half to reach €11.1bn, with the second quarter at €5.6bn and thus one of the strongest second quarters of the year on record, says CB Richard Ellis. It holds to a forecast of over €20bn investment for all of 2011.
“Germany continues to count as one of the top destinations for property investments worldwide,” said CBRE’s Fabian Klein. The strong economy, rising real wages and rapidly falling unemployment is likely to support this going forward. At the same time, the low level of new construction and the high demand for good commercial floorspace provide investors with opportunities to enter the market and benefit from the climb in rents, he added.
While domestic demand remains strong, CBRE is seeing ongoing steady interest from overseas buyers. “As a result, we recorded €4.2bn in cross-border investment in the first six months, which adds up to some 38% of the total transaction volume.”
Jan Linsin, CBRE Head of Research Germany, commented: “By the year end we expect further dynamism in investment activity and hold to our prognosis of reaching over €20bn in total.” pie
Retail property was the principle focus of domestic and international investors alike in the first half – making up €6.3bn of total, or 56%. Office investments totalled €2.7bn, or 24%, with the €584m sale by the Deutsche Bank of its Greentowers headquarters to one of its group funds, DWS, making up a substantial proportion of this. Turnover in logistic and industrial real estate reached €600m, with hotels at €550m and another €630m invested in development building sites. Yields for top office space in Berlin slipped fractionally and now average 5%, with shopping centres in prime locations seeing a 15bp yield slide to now around 5.10%.
PIE COMMENT: This certainly reflects what we are hearing and seeing elsewhere – that Germany is one of the frontrunners for global real estate capital in this phase of the recovery cycle. Due to the nation’s economic strength and its role as central European locomotive, several US institutions are, for example, allocating capital for the first time to the nation and to nearby markets in mainland Europe.
//www.pie-mag.com/articles/1463/german-re-investment-rises-28-foreigners-active-cbre/
מעודכן לתאריך: פברואר 27, 2012