German financiers have become more aggressive in their lending terms over the past two months, according to Sascha Wilhelm, chief operating officer of Swiss property investor Corestate Group.
German financiers have become more aggressive in their lending terms over the past two months, according to Sascha Wilhelm, chief operating officer of Swiss property investor Corestate Group.
The easing of the financing market is not confined to Germany, he added. ‘German banks are also willing to follow us into the Dutch market. Financing is not really an issue anymore.’
Wilhelm made the comments at PropertyEU’s Germany Investment Briefing which was held at the Provada fair in Amsterdam on Wednesday. Corestate is actively looking for opportunities in the Dutch property market, he added. The company already has a strong presence in the German-speaking markets and is keen to expand its active asset management approach to other ‘interesting’ European real estate markets.
Klaus Franken, CEO of Catella Property’s German unit, confirmed that lending conditions are easing in Continental Europe’s largest market. ‘We’re now seeing LTVs (loan-to-value ratios, ed.) of 70% and margins have decreased over the past two months by 20 basis points.’ At the same time, there is no risk of a bubble in Germany due to excessively relaxed lending conditions, he added. ‘The situation is totally different to 2007.’
While foreign investors continue to pile into Germany in search of opportunities in the most stable market in mainland Europe, Corestate’s Wilhelm is turning his gaze to the Netherlands but also Spain, he said. ‘Germany is a bit too stable for opportunistic situations,’ he said. ‘And the prices are not opportunistic.’
