German Office Acquisitions at Highest in Five Years

 

from Bloomberg.com  2012 / 10 / 18

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-18/german-office-acquisitions-at-highest-in-five-years.html

nvestors spent more on office properties in Germany through September than in any initial nine-month period for five years, buying more than twice as much in Berlin and Munich than the same period last year. Office properties valued at 6.27 billion euros ($8.22 billion) were sold in the first nine months of 2012, a 50 percent increase from 2011, according to data compiled by BNP Paribas (BNP) SA’s German real estate unit.

“Safety-oriented investors see good conditions here due to the relatively stable economic and employment situation,” Sven Stricker, head of investment at BNP Paribas Real Estate GmbH, said in a statement today. “Office investments have a good medium-term outlook, assuming the euro crisis doesn’t escalate.”
Demand for German property has jumped this year as investors seek a safe place to put their money amid the risk the euro zone’s sovereign-debt crisis will worsen. Germany’s economy, Europe’s largest, is forecast to grow 0.8 percent this year, according to the government. The economies of the 17 nations that share the euro are together forecast to contract 0.4 percent, according to the European Central Bank.
Office investments rose 172 percent in Berlin and 138 percent in Munich, Germany’s most expensive city for workplace properties. Investments in Hamburg, Cologne and Dusseldorf declined, Paris-based BNP said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dalia Fahmy in Berlin at dfahmy1@bloomberg.net
 
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ross Larsen at rlarsen2@bloomberg.net