GSW Immobilien adds 4,400 apartments to Berlin portfolio

GSW Immobilien has negotiated the purchase of around 4,400 apartments in Berlin in three portfolio transactions worth a total of EUR 200 mln, 50%-financed with equity raised from this year's capital increase. The execution of the contracts is subject to the usual market conditions and is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

Most of the properties are in the districts of Spandau (43%), Mitte (26%), Reinickendorf (12%), Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf (11%) and Treptow-Köpenick (8%). Around 88% of the rental units were constructed before 1949 while the other properties (12%) date from the 1950s and 1960s. Rental levels for all the apartments average around EUR 5.32 per m² per month, while the average vacancy rate is 2.4%.

'The majority of buildings in the newly-acquired portfolios are in the immediate vicinity of our existing housing stock and complement it perfectly. The purchases will have a positive impact on our average rents in the overall portfolio,' said Jörg Schwagenscheidt, whose responsibilities as COO of the MDAX-listed property company include acquisitions.

With the biggest portfolio of the three transactions, GSW is buying back properties that were sold to a foreign investor in 2005 as part of the GSW privatisation, and that have since been managed by a GSW subsidiary which was recently sold to Strabag. 'In addition to the purchase price, other key factors for us were that we know the portfolio well, it fits in perfectly with our properties, and the vast majority of the apartments have been either partially or completely renovated,' added Schwagenscheidt. The company is also in the midst of promising negotiations for a further 3,000 apartments, he noted. 'We’re confident that we will be able to finalise binding purchase contracts before the end of this year.'