Invest Berlin 2Q2019

New record figures on the market for investment in commercial properties in Berlin: Germany’s capital city reported by far the highest volume of transactions ever seen in one half year - the total of some €4.83bn was nearly twice that posted in the prior year (€2.45bn). “The volume of transactions completed in the first half of 2019 has already surpassed the total for the first three quarters of 2018. It is quite possible that the final annual result will reach a new record mark of more than eight billion euros, thus topping the excellent total posted in 2018 and even the all-time high of 2015“, forecasts Holger Michaelis, managing director of Grossmann & Berger, a member of German Property Partners (GPP).
 
Market details:

• 14 trades in the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2019 each involved more than €100m, thus making a crucial contribution to the record total.
• As in the prior year office buildings remained by far the most popular asset class, accounting for 75 % of the trading volume and a total of €3.6bn. Trades in this category include top transactions such as “Oberbaum City” and the “Pressehaus am Alex”. Mixed use assets followed in second place, with a share of 8 % of the total.
• Once again, international investors were behind slightly over half of the volume traded. Year on year (65 %) however, their share has fallen.
• Prime yields on offices and commercial buildings have settled at 2.9 %. Grossmann & Berger do not expect to see further compression in the immediate future.
• Commercial properties in the central locations of the city accounted for 17 % of the volume of transactions. In the same period the previous year, this figure was 5 %.
   

Investment market | Berlin | 1st and 2nd quarters 2019

Berlin investment market	2019/Q1-2
Transaction volume [€ millions]	4,830
against prior yr [%]	+97
Share of trading in CBD [%]	17
Proportion of international investors [%]	53
Prime net yield, office [%]	2.90
against prior yr [percentage points]	-0.10
Prime net yield, commercial buildings [%]	2.90
against prior yr [percentage points]	0
Prime net yield, logistics properties [%]	4.20
against prior yr [percentage points]	-0.20
Strongest asset class	Offices
Strongest asset class [%]	75

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 










Selected top transactions | investments in Berlin | 1st and 2nd quarters 2019

Project/property Street no.	Sub-market	Asset class	Buyer/investor	Vendor	Purchase price* [approx. €m]
“Oberbaum-City”, Rotherstrasse	Friedrichs-hain	Offices	Blackstone Group	UniCredit (HVB)	475
“Pressehaus am Alexanderplatz / New Podium”, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 27-29	Mitte	Offices	GEG German Real Estate Group	Tishman Speyer	365
“Zoom”, Joachimsthaler Strasse 4	Ku’damm plus side roads	Mixed use	Bayerische Versorgungskammer BVK (Pension fund)	Hines Immobilien GmbH	265
“The West Light Berlin”, Budapester Strasse 35 [2nd quarter]	Ku’damm plus side roads	Offices	Generali Deutschland Immobilien GmbH	Barings	200
“Carrée Seestrasse / Osram-Höfe”, Seestrasse 64 [2nd quarter]	Periphery North	Offices	Cording Real Estate Group	Deutsche Real Estate AG	225
*The purchase prices stated are based on publicly available data, where none is available an estimate is made;

 




















An expanded review of the investment market in Berlin will soon be available in the Market Survey and may be downloaded from our website.