The mood at Expo Real this year is positively jubilant compared to a year ago, according to Sascha Hettrich, CEO of King Sturge in Germany. ´Compared to today, last year was very depressing,´ he told PropertyEU. ´This year is completely different, investors are very positive and there is a lot of money sitting in funds waiting to be invested,´ he added.
The mood at Expo Real this year is positively jubilant compared to a year ago, according to Sascha Hettrich, CEO of King Sturge in Germany. ´Compared to today, last year was very depressing,´ he told PropertyEU. ´This year is completely different, investors are very positive and there is a lot of money sitting in funds waiting to be invested,´ he added.
The deal volume in the first nine months of this year is testament to the gradual turnaround in the German market. Around EUR 14 bn in deals was transacted in the period, compared to just EUR10 bn during the whole of 2009, according to King Sturge. By the year-end, Hettrich forecasts that around EUR 18 bn of deals will have taken place.
However, Germany may not be able to keep up the momentum: `Deals do take longer to close... the recovery is slowing down. There´s not much core product available and the prices are not quite right for institutional investors,´ Hettrich admitted.
Nevertheless, one asset class that has caught the eye of institutional investors is residential stock. ´This is a growing trend. Institutional investors are putting a big focus on residential stock in the "Big Five" German cities,' Hettrich explained. `They tend to be almost fully-let and rents are also increasing, which makes them attractive,´ he said.
