Action Required - You Can Optimize Your Freeze Rent in the "Mietendeckel"

If you own in apartment building or apartment in Berlin completed before 2014 and currently have a vacancy, Swift action is advisable. The difference is 20% of the prospective net rent.

If residential space is or was re-let after the effective date 18 June 2019 and the lease continues to apply upon the Rent Act taking effect, the newly agreed rent will be relevant for the rent freeze. Thus, in such cases too, a market rent may be agreed before the Rent Act takes effect without the risk of the agreement being retroactively deemed invalid and the landlord being required to return any excess rent. At the same time, the tenant may, within nine months of the law taking effect, demand that the rent be reduced to the permitted cap (see The Berlin Rent Cap - "Mietendeckel" is here. What Do You Have To Do?)

In short: You can rent your currently vacant apartment at 19% above the cap table and that will be your freeze rent going forward, unless you re rent again within the next five years.

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To recap the latest main events:

The Berlin city parliament voted on Thursday, January 30, 2020, to pass the rent cap “Mietendeckel” draft into law. It will most likely come into effect at the beginning of March, possibly as early as the end of February when officially published.
This will trigger numerous deadlines for actions required to be taken by the landlord.
The answer to a much asked question:
Yes it does apply to furnished apartments completed before 2014.
We are offering a newsletter, starting with a summary and interpretation of the law as it went into the parliamentary hearing. going forward, we will be providing hands-on tips on the communication and the timeline that needs to be met starting with the information needed.
Here is the opportunity for you to sign up to this free newsletter:

Don't miss the opportunity.

Action Required - You Can Optimize Your Freeze Rent in the "Mietendeckel"

Berlin Remains in the Top 5 of the Most Dynamic Cities in Europe

Savills Investment Management LLP has published their annual  "Savills IM Dynamic Cities Index" for Europe.

Europe stands among the most urbanised regions on the globe. Trends
in urbanisation are increasingly important for investors. However, not
all cities are equal. With the predicted growth of disruptive technology,
it is vital to identify locations that will show resilience to change. 

The Savills Investment Management Dynamic Cities
index incorporates cities’ longer-term upwards growth
potential rather than focus on the one- to two-year,
shorter-term real estate cycle.
Using 60 indicators across 6 subcategories, Savills
Investment Management has identified London,
Cambridge, Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin as the top
five European cities for real estate investment.
KIRAN PATEL Global Chief Investment Officer Savills Investment Management

http://www.dynamiccities.savillsim.com/

London, Cambridge, Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin remain the five most dynamic cities in Europe, according to Savills Investment Management. They claim their position in the new edition of the "Savills IM Dynamic Cities Index", for which 130 European cities and city regions were evaluated according to the criteria of innovation, inspiration, inclusion, networking, investment and infrastructure. The index is led by cities that are successful in attracting and retaining talent, promoting innovation, and increasing productivity, which in turn drives prosperity and population growth and thus has a positive impact on the commercial real estate markets. Most of the locations investigated achieved better results than in the previous year. In Germany, especially Frankfurt (+4 in 17th place) improved.

The full report is available at this link:
http://www.dynamiccities.savillsim.com/resources/documents/Dynamic_Cities_ResearchPaper_2018.pdf
And an interactive presentation with visualisation of the the results and their components allowing direct comparison and search is available at this link:
http://www.dynamiccities.savillsim.com/city-rankings

Berlin Remains in the Top 5 of the Most Dynamic Cities in Europe

Cash in The Attic - Rooftop Developments in Berlin

The Urban Land Institute Leader Summit 2018 in Frankfurt in May touched on the subject of repurposing roof space in Berlin. Be it your classic attic rooftop development or installing completely new units on top of existing buildings:

In Brief: Repurposing Rooftop Space as Values Climb in Berlin

With property in high demand in Berlin—it had the largest year-over-year real estate price increase of any city in the world last year—it makes more sense than ever to look up for new opportunities. A number of developers have found success (or are hoping for a top return) from add-on projects atop existing structures in Germany’s capital.

For the full article and video: https://urbanland.uli.org/development-business/brief-repurposing-rooftop-space-values-climb-berlin/

This is especially interesting in "Mileuschutz" protected areas as there are no "luxury" limitations for the new apartments and the rent is not limited. You just cannot integrate existing apartments into the development. For more information on "Milieuschutz" see The Can Do and Can't Do Renovating Apartments in Certain Areas of Berlin in this blog.

Cash in The Attic - Rooftop Developments in Berlin

IBB Housing Market Report 2017 for the Berlin and Greater Berlin region

The annual IBB Housing Market Report has a different angle at the market situation than the commercial reports produced by big property agents and banks. Here is how they characterise themselves:

"IBB is the business development bank of the Federal Land of Berlin. With its business support, it actively contributes towards developing Berlin as a hub for business and industry. Our staff working in housing and real estate promotion are the people to contact for all issues related to real-estate financing."

Their viewpoint is policy based and not biased to talking prices up for business purposes (also available in this blog). The main report is in German and a volume of 121 pages with very detailed data and information. There is an 8 page summary available with all key findings of the report addressing these topics:

Selected Data at a glance

• Economic factors
• Housing demand
• Housing supply
• Rents and housing market
• More detailed data available in the German version of the full report

General situation and important trends

• Berlin’s economy – growth once again above the national average
• Trend in demand
• Trend in supply
• Market for detached and semi-detached homes
• Market for freehold apartments
• Market for rented apartments
• Key topic: The “Berlin and greater Berlin” housing market region

Downloads:

2017 IBB Housing Market Report - Summary, English

IBB Wohnungsmarktbericht - Full Report, German

IBB Housing Market Report 2017 for the Berlin and Greater Berlin region

Pitfalls to Avoid When Buying an Apartment

You are planning to buy an apartment and you're satisfied with your calculations. A few months after the purchase you receive a letter from the property manager asking you to transfer 2,400 Euros because of a decision made by the owners association months before your purchase.

This has happened to a buyer and he thought he was not liable for decisions made by the owners association before he became the owner of his apartment. He took it to court but the court denied his objection. So did the next to levels of courts of appeal. The payment of any extraordinary payment agreed in the owners meeting are not due right away but when the property manager calls in the payments. Whoever is the owner entered in the land register at that point in time is liable for the payment.

Photo by Joel & Jasmin Førestbird on Unsplash

This is proof that the investment into a due diligence is not a luxury but a necessity. When performed thoroughly it would have detected and highlighted the looming payment and would have enabled the buyer to make a provision in the purchase contract, support price negotiations or at a minimum would have avoided a nasty surprise.

In the example given, the surprise payment exceeded the cost of a due diligence for one apartment sixfold.

For more information on due diligence services see also http://www.berlin-portfolio.com/Purchase.html

Pitfalls to Avoid When Buying an Apartment

Thinking About Dividing an Apartment Block into Condos in Berlin? What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

A growing number of owners of apartment blocks in Berlin are contemplating selling their property to take advantage of the high demand and increased prices. Instead of selling an apartment block in its entirety in one go, the sale of single condos is seen as a way to achieve higher prices per sqm and ultimately for the building in total.

The main issue I want to discuss here is the subdivision of an apartment block into single apartments in inner-city areas in order to be able to sell them individually.

Certain district administrations of Berlin, which are the local government in this context, have declared certain regions of their district “Milieuschutzgebiet”. These are areas where a Preservation Statute applies. Every area has a specific boundary and will quote specific regulations from Section 172 of the Federal Building Code (Baugesetzbuch).

These are the districts that already have preservation areas in place or are in the process of raising the empirical data needed to declare such an area:

• Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
• Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
• Lichtenberg
• Mitte
• Neukölln
• Pankow
• Tempelhof-Schöneberg
• Treptow-Köpenick 

What is the impact on the owner?

In order to convert an apartment block into condos or individual freeholds (Eigentumswohnung) a permit from the district is required. In March 2015 the Berlin city government has released a regulation called “Umwandlungsverordnung” which allows the district to refuse the permit to divide (Teilungsgenehmigung) in areas under the Preservation Statute. Since preventing the “gentrification” of these areas through conversions is one of the purposes of declaring these areas “under protection”, the permit will be denied.

However there is another aspect to the story of the Preservation Statute which is not related to the division: The owner will not get a permit for what is seen a luxury modernization, e.g. new balconies bigger than 5 m², luxury bathrooms (definition in the regulation), join small apartments into big apartments, lifts and many other major works usually leading to rent increases.

What should I do?

If you are happy with your building and don’t plan to sell it in the near future you just need to keep your building in good shape and well managed, there is nothing you need to worry about.

However, if you are considering selling your property I recommend getting experienced local advice. There are different aspects of the business plan that might lead to different decisions when looked at in isolation as opposed to the total picture. Just to name some of these aspects, permits, tax, cost of marketing, timeline, first refusal rights of city and tenants (condos only) etc.. And it’s worth mentioning that sold individually you might not sell some units for years, at least not for the price envisaged.

Call me. We are specialized in guiding international investors through the ever-changing picture of market developments and regulations. Phone number

Academic / para-legal background.

The Federal Building Code allows local authorities to define specific areas for protection. This is done by means of local government procedures within the framework of the Federal Building Code. The regulations are spelt out in Section 172 of the code. All specific regulations will have to relate to this section.
Section 172 The Preservation of Physical Structures and of the Specific Urban Character of an Area (The Preservation Statute)

You will find an English version of the code here germanlawarchive.iuscomp.org

Thinking About Dividing an Apartment Block into Condos in Berlin? What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Berlin Housing Market Report 2018

The Berlin Housing Market Report has developed into a tool widely accepted in the Berlin Housing Market. Initiated by GSW an originally City-owned but now privatised property company it has experienced a change in sponsorship over the years and is now published by Berlin Hyp and CBRE. The report for 2018 is being published on 25.01.2018 and will be available for download for our clients and readers at the bottom of this page. If you have signed up before, you will receive the newest version automatically.

The report covers these areas:

• City comparison
• The city of Berlin
• Rents, sale prices, investments, transactions and financing
• Furnished housing
• New Construction
• The city: Expert interviews
• How cities and markets will develop by 2030 – and beyond
• Housing Cost Atlas: Introduction
• Housing Cost Map covering the whole of Berlin
• Berlin's 12 districts and their 190 postcode areas
• Explanatory notes on the rental map
• Rental map covering the whole of Berlin
• Special residential areas

Berlin Housing Market Report 2018

Berlin's residential property market has been outperforming since 2006

Press release from: Accentro GmbH

Residential real estate worth 5.64 billion Euros changed hands in Berlin in 2016. This is the upshot of the latest ACCENTRO Homeownership Report. It suggests that revenues from residential property sales in Berlin almost tripled over the past ten years, up from just 1.97 billion Euros in 2006. ACCENTRO assumes that revenues will cross the mark of six billion Euros this coming year.

The ACCENTRO Homeownership Report highlights the brisk outperformance of Berlin’s residential real estate market over the past decade. It is perhaps best illustrated by the surge in the number of completions. While just 363 new-build properties were sold in 2006, the sales total was up to 5,608 properties ten years down the road, more than 15 times as many.

Equally unrivalled by any other German metropolis are the price hikes in Berlin. Between 2006 and 2016, revenues per residential property sold went from 96,141 Euros up to around 250,215 Euros, an increase by 160.26 percent. None of the other cities that were studied showed a comparable price growth.

Declining Number of Transactions, Rising Revenues

The above-average growth in revenue per sale is apparent not just in the ten-year comparison but in the short-term track record as well. Between 2015 and 2016, the growth in revenue per sale equalled 16.73 percent, whereas the 20 biggest German cities averaged a growth rate of merely 8.03 percent. Despite the fast growth over the past years, prices in Berlin remain quite affordable when compared to price levels in other major German cities. The German capital ranks only twelfth in terms of revenue per sale, trailing mid-sized cities like Heidelberg, Mainz or Regensburg.

Lately, however, the number of condominium sales has slowed in Berlin, or so the ACCENTRO Homeownership Report suggests. Specifically, the number of transactions dropped by 7.42 percent between 2015 and 2016. ACCENTRO blames the fact not on a lull in demand, but primarily on short supply. The fact that revenues in 2016 went up by 8.07 percent year on year in spite of the declining number of transactions reflects the persistently keen demand for residential real estate in Berlin.

For local support in the fast-moving Berlin Property Market 

Please visit our website for more details on our services and how we provide a Home Base in the German Property Market not only for international investors: http://berlin-portfolio.com/index.html

Berlin's residential property market has been outperforming since 2006

The Berlin Property Market - Outlook 2018

We wish you a Happy, Healthy and Successfull Year 2018

The German and especially the Berlin property market experienced a record year in 2017 and left quite a few loose ends to watch out for.

Rent levels in the German Big 7

... Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt am Main, Düsseldorf, Cologne and Hamburg have risen significantly although at quite different rates. This applies to all market segments but is most outstanding residential properties in Munich and Berlin. Some market participants will tell you that the limit is reached and others will say that especially in Berlin there is still plenty of scope compared to other European metropolia like Prague or Warsaw.

Construction of new Apartments and Office Space

... does not keep up with demand in the big population centers and increases the upward pressure on rent levels.

Legal Challenges in the Residential Market

Almost all legal measures undertaken by the Federal Government and Local Authorities have been somewhat successfully challenged in court. Mietpreisbremse battle taken to Germany's Federal Constitutitutional Court Another challenge is the use of Airbnb by tenants and apartment owners.

Financing Property

... might become more expensive in 2018 as the inflation rate in December was at 1.8% the highest in 5 years. The main cause was the rent development and energy cost. This could have an impact on interest rates which in turn might have a slowing effect on property price increases.

These are just a few items to keep an eye on. Stay informed about the developments: Sign-up for updates from this blog and visit our website berlin-portfolio.com.

The Berlin Property Market - Outlook 2018

Investors favour Germany over UK for commercial real estate for first time

One in three (33 percent) commercial real estate investors have suggested that Germany is their preferred region to invest in, according to the latest BrickVest commercial property investment barometer. According to the latest market barometer of 3,500 professional real estate investors from BrickVest, the online real estate investment platform, suggests that more than a third of professional real estate investors are trending towards Germany as their preferred region to invest in. This is the first time that Germany has been chosen as the number one region to invest in, ahead of the UK which was selected by a quarter (27%).

The Barometer also revealed that UK, French, German and US investors are now less favourable towards the UK since last year.
BrickVest’s Barometer also showed that the investment objective for the majority (55 percent) of its online investors is capital growth compared to 33 percent who said income. This is a good explanation for the popularity of Berlin Real Estate despite yield compression - appreciation.

 

Investors favour Germany over UK for commercial real estate for first time

Emerging Trends in Real Estate in Europe 2018

Berlin has been ranked the top city for investment and development for the fourth year in a row by Europe’s real estate community.

A joint survey by PwC and Urban Land Institute provides an outlook on real estate developments throughout Europe in 2018. The forecast is based on the opinion of more than 800 property professionals.

Some of the results:

German cities have four representatives in the TOP 10 with Berlin at No.1 coming as no surprise. Some of the other interesting placements:

2. Frankfurt and Copenhagen

4. Munich

5. Madrid, performing a jump up by 4 places

6. Hamburg and 7. Dublin, both kicked out of the top 5

.

.

14. Paris

.

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27. London

The survey demonstrates growing optimism in view of the general macroeconomic development. Especially Germany and Berlin are highlighted:

'Germany has been steady state for a long time now. With Berlin, people truly believe it’s going to become a major city', a pan-European financier says.

The placement of London at the bottom of the ranking seems in contrast to predictions Savills published only recently: Savills: 2017 central London investment set to hit £20 billion – and could set new record.  But the uncertainty of BREXIT clearly reflects the outlook of the panel and could contribute to a self-fulfilling prophecy during 2018.

The DO and DON'T for 2018

Logistics and niche residential sectors such as student housing, senior living and healthcare are seen as the front-runners whereas anything retail is seen very critically.

The survey also addresses non-quantitative issues driving discussions and developments in the real estate community with Technology being top contender:

Key features of the report:

Major non-quantitative topics covered by the survey:

• Risk and return in today's business environment
• Alternative platforms
• Markets to watch
• Impact of Brexit - UK
• Space as a service

The survey:

Emerging Trends in Real Estate®: Europe 2018

is available for download here.

Emerging Trends in Real Estate in Europe 2018

Study: Eastern Germany's mid-sized cities are becoming increasingly attractive

TAG Immobilien AG Housing Market Report 2017

• TAG Housing Market Report Eastern Germany 2017 analyses 27 large and mid-sized cities in Eastern Germany
• Growing demand for housing in areas around major Eastern German cities
• Increase in popularity and new residents drives up rents and purchase prices, while vacancy rates fall 
• Household housing cost burden remains stable or even declines due to strong purchasing power growth

Hamburg, 18 October 2017 - Eastern Germany's housing markets are on course for further growth. Urban populations continue to expand while vacancy rates fall. As a result, rents and property purchase prices are increasing in many locations. The good news: "Despite the fact that rents are rising, dynamic purchasing power growth means that household housing cost burdens remain stable or have even declined in some places", said Claudia Hoyer, Member of the Management Board at TAG Immobilien AG. This has been confirmed by the "Eastern Germany Housing Market Report 2017", published by TAG Immobilien AG today. As with last year's study, the real estate consultancy firm Wüest Partner Deutschland analysed data from 27 large and mid-sized cities in Eastern Germany, including data on population and economic growth, rents and purchase prices, property yields and the financial burden of housing costs across the region.
The report also includes interesting details about the development of gross yields and price development in Berlin.


Further findings, including the complete Housing Market Report Eastern Germany 2017, can be downloaded for free here.

Study: Eastern Germany's mid-sized cities are becoming increasingly attractive

City Ranking in Germany for 2017 With Some Surprize Stars in The East

After 2015 the HWWI (Hamburgische Weltwirtschafts Institut) and Private Bank Berenberg have published their City Ranking 2017.

It looks at the 30 biggest German cities using a selection of indicators to determine the dynamics and direction of their development. There are quantitative indicators like demographics and an approach to qualitative indicators like the share of "high skills" jobs in the total number of jobs.

I don't want to make this too dry to read but there are some questions regarding the value of the findings: The indicators are ranked by the diversion from the statistical average for each indicator and then compiled into a summary indicator providing the overall ranking. So 100 new jobs in a city of 500,000 has the same impact as 500 new jobs in a city of 3.5 million.

It still provides an interesting insight into the general direction of the development of cities as well as their surroundings as cities have a growing importance for the development of their region.

So here is the ranking for 2017 in comparison to 2015:

The most remarkable result has to be Dresden, the capital of Saxony going up by 6 ranks and Leipzig in the same state moving up to No.2, both Ex-East-Germany.

Both cities have been the darlings of Anglo investors about 10 years ago driving up prices for investment properties.Subsequently many have abandoned the locations due to high vacancy rates which are now disappearing because of a turn-around in the job market in the region.

The full report is available here: City Ranking 2017

City Ranking in Germany for 2017 With Some Surprize Stars in The East

Have You Recently Bought a Condominium Apartment in Berlin?

Many international investors have bought condominium apartments in Berlin during the last years. Some will have full-service packages taking care of everything, hoping that everything will be alright. Some have bought an apartment, maybe even coming personally for the handover, proudly looking at their apartment - but what now?

Photo by All Bong on Unsplash

Just a few points to be thought of, best done a few months before:

• Who makes sure that any snagging is done right and timely while you are back home?
• How serious will the developer be when his last payment depends on the tick in the box on snagging - do you trust him to be acting in your best interest without supervision?
• Who holds the keys?
• At what rent should the property be rented - or should it be rented furnished with short-term contracts?
• If you want to go down the "Furnished Apartment" road, who takes care of this and who does the marketing for it?
• Who manages your apartment and rent collection, including
  
  • Budgeting
  • rent collection incl. chasing if necessary
  • payment of contributions to the owners association
  • property tax payment (quarterly)
  • tax documentation and handover to tax consultant in Germany
  • representation at annual owners meetings

Critical Point in Your Investment

This is the point in your investment that is as important as the purchase contract. The purchase contract and all the brochures are a promise. Now it comes to the fulfilment of your expectations - don't leave it to the developer and the agent who received a healthy commission - either from you or the developer - to make sure your plans work out. Even more important if reality does not meet brochure - you want someone on your side who knows the game. It also is a critical point for reclaiming some of the money you paid for a promise that was not 100% fulfilled - the clock starts ticking on handover day.

Our recommendation

Be prepared, don't leave it until the last day. But even if your handover has already happened and you are in the midst of having to make decisions by the minute - get some professional support with local experience. Someone with broad knowledge, experience and solutions. Everybody can point out problems, the next step is much more important - what to do? You don't need a lawyer, an architect and a rental agent to identify your next steps, you need someone who "owns" and "lives" your property and then proposes other specialists when needed and with specific tasks. Otherwise, you are likely to receive long documents with lots of possible or even real issues attached to a big fee account and still no solution.

We don't offer off the shelf solutions because every investor has a personal view about the degree of their own involvement. We can go from one-stop-shop including the management of the investment to just the production of a checklist based on the contract and its documentation. We are happy to engage in a conversation to find out what you feel is best for you.

Have You Recently Bought a Condominium Apartment in Berlin?

What is the best Property Location (In Berlin)?

In my career as a property professional I have heard plenty of advice about property investment and to come to the conclusion right up front -  there just is no lid that fits all pots.

There are investors with various investment philosophies, one that will go for prime locations for investment, put the lid on the pot and see what happened after 10 years. You know what, if it was not a major natural disaster area (take your pick) or politically unwise like Crimea, they will most likely be delighted about the value appreciation.
Now turning that theoretical value appreciation into cash through a sale to someone who believes in this new value is another story. This is an investment philosophy for someone who wants to park their money in a safe and useful way but does not need it for income purposes - this comes from somewhere else. They say that only poor investors look for income from property.

A different weathered property investor in the GERMAN rental market, the emphasis is on purpose, told me once that he would always invest in blue collar areas, anywhere in the world, because these are straight forward people who would do anything to pay their rent and stay out of trouble (eviction) as opposed to white collars who would rather pay a lawyer than their rent.

Let's take another angle:
If you invest 500k in a rented apartment(s) and buy a top tier apartment in Berlin-Mitte it would buy you 1 with about 60 m². How are you going to monetize it? Lock it up, air it once a month and run the taps and hope the authorities will not catch up on you for "housing speculation"? Rent it - furnished or not furnished? What will be the extra cost for furnishing and upkeep and frequent change of tenancy? How big will the gaps be? Did you choose the right location for furnished rentals? What is the cost of vacancy - 100% plus. You don't only not get the rent but you have to pay all utilities charges etc. (Betriebskosten) throughout the vacancy.
If you bought 3 apartments at the same price in a blue collar area you were hedging your bets: How likely is it that all three tenants would default at the same time? Given the current housing market, it is very unlikely that you would be facing a vacancy of more than one month on any of those three units. I think going into more details at this point would be insulting your intelligence ...

Now here comes what you have been waiting for while you were reading: My proposal for the income orientated investor. At this point, I have managed to source two offers for multi family properties that are a fair offer in the current market scenario and have room for improvement in the mid-term. Have a look at some of these locations and maybe you will get interested. ... https://propertylocations.blogspot.de/

What is the best Property Location (In Berlin)?

Deutsche Bundesbank: There is no property bubble in Germany

There are always those predicting doom and if they just keep doing so long enough they might be right one day and nobody counts the false alarms - they hope. The Deutsche Bundesbank (German Central Bank) does not belong in this category but is known for being very cautious about price developments, especially when they have an impact in banks lending policies for properties.

Only in May of this year Dr. Andreas Dombre, a board of directors member at the Deutsche Bundesbank warned about a price bubble building up in the German property market and the fact that you can't predict the actual "pop" only acknowledge when it happened.
Speech transcript in German:  https://www.bundesbank.de/Redaktion/DE/Reden/2017/2017_05_04_dombret.html#doc398274bodyText2

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Asked about the topic at a press conference on 30.08.2017 introducing "Results of the 2017 low-interest-rate survey" Dombre stated that the Deutsche Bundesbank currently does not see a property bubble but fears a tendency that financial institutions are considering taking higher risks in residential property financing. Press release: https://www.bundesbank.de/Redaktion/EN/Pressemitteilungen/BBK/2017/2017_08_30_joint_press_release.html

 

Especially in the Berlin housing market, we are successfully sourcing off-market investment opportunities for private investors in the popular segment between 1 and 2 million Euros as well as high-end private homes and villas. For more information please contact us at: http://www.berlin-portfolio.com/feedback.html

 

 

Deutsche Bundesbank: There is no property bubble in Germany

Chinese investors seize on cheap #Berlin properties

Photo by Artem Sapegin on Unsplash

Investors 'unaware' that tough tenancy laws limit potential for rental growth

JENS KASTNER, Contributing writer at NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW





This article provides different views of the situation in the Berlin Housing Market and how long distance and lack of local knowledge are exploited by some selling to Chinese Investors. But the treatment was no better when Irish Investors invaded the Berlin property market 10 years ago.

Read the full article here: NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW

We provide support for finding the right property investment in Berlin - but we are not agents, or only in very few cases. Investors can rely on our impartial professionality. We don't only know about the sales process but also a lot about running a property to make it perform at its best potential.

Contact: http://www.berlin-portfolio.com/feedback.html

Chinese investors seize on cheap #Berlin properties

Surprize Results In The Top 50 House Price Index: #Berlin at No.18 and Waterford, Ireland at 9

The Hurun Research Institute released the Hurun Global House Price Index 2017 Half-Year, listing the 50 cities with the highest house price changes in the twelve months to 30 June 2017.

China housing prices growing fastest in world

 6 Chinese cities in Top 10 & 21 in the Top 50

Toronto jumped 26% yoy, Number One in world

Hong Kong Top 5, with house prices rising 20.8% yoy

Wuxi fastest growing city in mainland China; Zhengzhou, Changsha, Guangzhou and Shijiazhuang in Top 10

USA, with 15 cities, led way for highest global property ROI (housing price change + RMB change + rental yield), followed by Germany (5), Australia (4) and Canada (4)

 The ranking for individual cities shows some surprizes:

Source: hurun.net

There are only 7 non-Chinese cities in the top 20 (blue frame) out of which 3 are European.

The report also looks at the ROI where Berlin ranks at No. 16. You can download the press release including the ROI ranking here ⇒ Hurun Report 1 - 2017 Press Release.

Surprize Results In The Top 50 House Price Index: #Berlin at No.18 and Waterford, Ireland at 9

EMEA Investors Intentions Survey by CBRE: Germany at No.1 again with Berlin moving up to No.2 city

INVESTOR INTENTIONS SURVEY 2017

Berlin moved up to No.2

 The CBRE has arrived at these conclusions:

• Economic conditions are positive and investors have ample capital to deploy in real estate
• In EMEA, investors are planning for $475 billion in real estate investments in 2017
• For 2017, 85% of investors intend to spend at least as much as in 2016, and 40% expect to spend more
• Germany is ahead of the UK as the most attractive place to invest, as was the case in 2016, but investors are showing an increasing tendency to invest in the UK despite uncertainty over Brexit
• The Nordics enters the top three with a significant jump compared to 2016
• London retains the top spot as most popular city to invest in with an increased share, but Berlin shows the biggest increase, moving into second place
• ‘Pricing’ and ‘Availability of product’ are the biggest obstacles to investing in EMEA real estate
• Office is the most popular sector: interest in logistics has increased
• Risk appetite has increased slightly
• Income related factors such as ‘Yield relative to other asset classes’ are investor’s key motivations for investing in real estate

  The full report is available: https://researchgateway.cbre.com/PublicationListing.aspx?PUBID=6e0d802a-c164-48fd-acb3-1057547a0312 

Another interesting result is the preferred property type:

For support in property search and optimisation of property operation please visit our website http://www.berlin-portfolio.com

EMEA Investors Intentions Survey by CBRE: Germany at No.1 again with Berlin moving up to No.2 city

How secure are you when buying off-plan property in Germany?

Buying Off-Plan Properties, i.e. properties that are not yet as they are supposed to be according to the purchase contract, can be seen as risky. This could be a family house or a condo yet to be built or renovated. There is a building specification and some material samples trying to describe what the property should look like when it is finished.

In an ideal world for the buyer, no money changes hands before the project is finished and the result is satisfactory. For the developer, there is the worry if the buyer can and will pay once the project is finished.
In the German legal system, there is a regulation with a monstrosity of a name: Makler- und Bauträger Verordnung (MaBV),  which can be translated as Agent and Developer Ordinance - not much better. I will ignore the part dealing with agents for this purpose.
This ordinance regulates when and under which conditions a developer is allowed to take money from a buyer or the buyer's bank. Yes, this is right, he can not only not ask for the money if the conditions are not fulfilled, he is not even allowed to take it if you offered it - who would?
The regulation defines 13 instalments of the purchase price related to the building progress. Only up to 7 instalments are allowed, meaning that the developer will provide a payment plan which will bundle some of these instalments.

Here is an infographic about the 13 instalments:

Instalments according to MaBV

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