German open-ended real estate funds (GOEFs) will be forced to offload a further €9bn of European real estate before 2017, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
The funds, many of which are being liquidated, will need to sell in such a volume to “optimise their sales prices strategy”, Cushman & Wakefield – which recently took over DTZ – stated in its seventh biannual report on the sector.
The funds were reformed in 2012, following a post-crisis liquidity crisis, as part of Germany’s implementation of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), the Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch (KAGB).
According to the Cushman & Wakefield’s research, GOEFs hold €82bn of property assets worldwide.
Of those nearly 12% are to be sold by 2017, as 18 different funds enter into a ”liquidation phase”.
Around one third of the assets to come to the market are expected to be in Germany, one quarter in Benelux and another 18% in France.
“The liquidation of GOEFs has already provided the market with €14bn of sales since 2012,” said Magali Marton, head of EMEA research at Cushman & Wakefield.
While transaction numbers have been on the decline recently, the average discount on the purchase price has come down considerably, also because the regional focus of the sales has shifted, the report said.
Cushman & Wakefield said: “Depending on the country, the pricing achieved to book value has ranged from a 26% discount in the Benelux to a premium of 47% for assets traded in the UK, with German assets sales reflecting a 6% discount”.
As sales shift to Germany, prices are set to increase, it said.
Marton added: “A 13% discount on 2014 sales has reduced to a 4% discount for disposals over the last six months.”
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