22
GERMANY
ISSUE
I
COVER STORY
like these. Foreign investors, many from
Asia, are increasingly interested in resi-
dential housing projects. Klein can well
imagine that this will be even more so the
case this year. “For student residences a lot
of people are even prepared to venture into
smaller cities like Freiburg or Marburg,”
said Pink.
In addition, the transaction business
could also revive the –currently dis-
cussed– increase in the property transfer
tax for share deals in Germany. “If these
plans are implemented, then this will ini-
tially have a positive impact on investment
activity,” says Beyerle. Real estate packages
can still change hands more affordably un-
til this goes into effect.
«
Norbert Jumpertz, Staig
In 2016, this group of buyers became
increasingly involved in student residences
and project development. Capital invest-
ed in the new construction of residential
buildings rose for the third year in a row
and amounted to EUR 3.5 billion, which
corresponded to a quarter of the transac-
tion volume of EUR 13.7 billion in this
real estate market segment. “That is the
highest percentage ever registered for new
construction projects,” says Kontantin
Lüttger, Head of Residential Investment
at CBRE in Germany. Top locations are in
particular demand for new construction
projects.
SMALLER CITIES ARE ALSO INTERESTING
FOR STUDENT RESIDENCES
Alone in Berlin,
over EUR 1 billion was spent on projects
investors should likely continue in 2017,”
says Jan Linsin, Head of Research at CBRE
in Germany. In 2016, investors from the
USA and the UK invested nearly EUR 1.5
billion in this real estate asset class.
As far as property locations are con-
cerned, risk-averse foreign investors,
according to Pink, are concentrating al-
most without exception on the core and
core-plus segment. Speculative groups are
looking for opportunistic investments.
“Both groups can be optimistic about the
remaining course of this year,” Thomas
Beyerle, Managing Director of Catella
Property, is convinced. Because of the
scarce supply, rents for commercial and
residential properties are rising particu-
larly in areas of high-population density.
This pleases foreign investors.
TOP TRANSACTIONS -
INVOLVING FOREIGN INVESTMENTS
Source: CBRE
Portfolio/asset class
Volume
Buyer
Seller
Office properties
(Officefirst)
EUR 3.3 bn Blackstone
IVG
17,000 residential units
(BGP-Portfolio)
EUR 1.2 bn Morgan Stanley
Real Estate Investment
BGP Investment
Panacea-Portfolio
(Nursing home properties)
EUR 1.0 bn Primonial
Even Capital
Interhotel package
EUR 0.8 bn FDM Management
Brookfield, Starwood
39 Metro markets
EUR 0.8 bn Aroundtown
Cerberus
Experts figure that in 2017 even
more Asian investors will be
setting their sights on Germany.
There’s a lot of money in Asia
for which investment opportuni-
ties are being sought.
Photo: ESB Professional /shutterstock.com
