Investment Market Berlin 2Q2020

Transaction volume Berlin 2016-2020 / Q1-2Following a strong start to the year when Aroundtown bought a major shareholding in TLG, the market for commercial investment properties in Berlin slowed appreciably in the 1st half of 2020. Between January and June 2020 the transaction volume totalled €3.46bn or 28 % less than the same period a year before. “The Corona lockdown made investors more cautious about buying Berlin real estate in the second quarter. Overall, fewer trades were finalized. The number of property trades costing 100 million euros or more was also well below the previous year’s level,” says Holger Michaelis, managing director of Grossmann & Berger, a member of German Property Partners (GPP). Grossmann & Berger is confident that more properties will be put on the market in the second half of the year. “In view of ongoing unease regarding how the economy will develop, properties that have been let long-term to highly creditworthy tenants, such as government departments, are in demand,” Michaelis remarks.  

Market details:

  • A comparison of half-year figures for the Berlin commercial property market shows that the total posted was second only to the 1st-half record set I n 2019. Mainly, this was due to Aroundtown’s purchase of some 80 % of shares in TLG in the 1st quarter of 2020.
  • Apart from this portfolio transaction, only five properties were traded for more than €100m in the 1st half of 2020. In the same period a year ago, 13 transactions passed the €100m mark.
  • Once again, office properties were the most sought-after class of assets, taking 67 % of the market (Q2 2019: 75 %).
  • Prime yields on offices (2.7 %), commercial buildings (2.8 %) and logistics properties (3.8 %) have become more stable.     

 

Investment market | Berlin | 2020 

Q 1-2 

Transaction volume [€ millions] 

3,460

against prior yr [%]

-28

Share of trading in CBD [%]

10

Proportion of international investors [%] 

74

Prime net yield, office [%] 

2.7

against prior yr [percentage points]

-0.2

Prime net yield, commercial buildings [%] 

2.8

against prior yr [percentage points]

-0.1

Prime net yield, logistics properties [%] 

3.8

against prior yr [percentage points]

-0.4

Strongest asset class 

Offices

Strongest asset class [%] 

67

 

Selected top transactions | investments in Berlin | 1st and 2nd quarters 2020  

Project/property 

Street no.  

Sub-market 

Asset class 

Buyer/investor 

Vendor 

Purchase price*

[approx. €m]

Quartier Schützenstrasse

Mitte 1a

Offices

Henderson Park

Caleus Capital Partners for GIC

194

“The Grid”

Kreuzberg

Offices

DWS

Pandion

129

“Enter”

Periphery North

Offices

DEKA Immobilien

Townscape One

120

Kabel-Deutschland,

Germaniastrasse 14-17

Periphery South

Offices

Colcap

Signature Capital Limited

70

“Mebeshaus”

Charlottenstrasse 82

Mitte 1a

Offices

KanAm for Leading Cities Invest fund

Quest Investment Partners

55

*The purchase prices stated are based on publicly available data, where none is available an estimate is made; new transactions or those occurring in the quarter dealt with in this report are highlighted.

The complete market survey will soon be available here.

corinna fühner

Press contact

Corinna Fühner

Hamburg
Bleichenbrücke 9 (Stadthöfe)
20354 Hamburg

Telefon +49 40 350802-588
Fax +49 40 350802-200

E-Mail presse@germanpropertypartners.de
www.grossmann-berger.de