Pfandbrief Banks launch new indices for German offices

The Association of German Pfandbrief Banks (VDP) has launched new indices for the German office market to help increase transparency in the market.

The indices will measure changes in rental levels and capital values for office properties in Germany and will be updated quarterly. Calculations will be carried out by vdpResearch, a subsidiary of the VDP, based on data from transactions obtained through Pfandbrief Banks in the course of their lending activities.

According to Reiner Lux, general manger of VDP research, the main advantage of the VDP's office indices is that they are calculated using real transactions over the past seven years and track changes across Germany, not just in the 'Big Six', which includes Frankfurt and Munich.

As such, the latest indices spell good news for the market, according to Marcus Lemli, head of capital markets at Jones Lang LaSalle in Germany: 'In Germany we do not have a widely accepted property index,' he told PropertyEU. 'I think we're at an early stage of developing the property market as an asset class alongside equities and bonds. Anything like this that helps the real estate industry to be more professional and offers benchmarks can only be a good thing for the market,' he added.

Other VDP indices are also on the cards, according to Lux: 'Later this year we plan to launch additional indices for the German rental housing market. We also plan to launch a retail index in the second half of this year that will track both high street and shopping centre markets. This index will also track retail across the whole of Germany and we will update it quarterly,' he told PropertyEU.

In addition, VDP plans to introduce a logistics index, which is likely to be launched in the second half of 2012, Lux said. The Association of German Pfandbrief Banks already has a vdp Property Price Index family, which was launched in February 2010 to measure owner-occupier housing.

Although there are existing property indices in Germany, including Jones Lang LaSalle's Victor Prime Office Index, which tracks changes in the value of prime offices for Germany's five largest office markets, none are widely accepted. Berlin-based research consultancy BulwienGesa also has a Property Market Index that dates back to 1975 and which tracks offices, retail and housing space.

Germany's office market has started to pick up in recent quarters. The country's economy has improved in recent months and the investment risk premium has begun to revert to pre-crisis levels, according to the VDP. Subsequently, there was an increase in VDP's office index of about 2.4% in the first quarter of the year, compared to the first quarter of 2010, Lux said.

According to JLL's prime capital value index, German office prices in the 'Big 6' have risen by 9.1% since 2009.