(1888PressRelease)
March 13, 2007 - According to Julian Lu, a regional director at real estate brokers Imoinvest, the property market in that country is set to rise "significantly" in the near future. He says a key indicator of this is the amount of private equity funds now investing in German property, combined with a move on the part of German banks towards offering investor-friendly mortgages.
And he is not alone. Alex Ross, of Premier Asset Management's Pan-European Property Share fund, sees Germany as a key part of his investment portfolio with the potential for good returns. "Most of my focus is now on continental European property where the medium term outlook is very attractive," he confirms, adding: "This is because of the positive yield gap. It is positive in continental Europe against a negative in the UK".
He explains that, as he sees it, Germany is in the middle of a cycle at present, with office rent across the country at a five-year low. He points to the fact that Frankfurt, which has seen a 35 per cent drop in rental yields in the past three years, is once again seeing prices rise. According to Mr Ross, the fourth quarter of last year saw clear rental growth, which he expects to see continue - a prediction that is bound to interest those UK investors that are looking for promising new markets.
Oliver Jackson of World Capital Partners concurs. "People are looking abroad to invest in property, as the market out there is rising faster than the UK market has done over the past 10 years," he says. One investor who has been drawn to the German market is civil engineer Alan Jackson, who says that he was attracted by the high rental yields possible. Mr Jackson invested in a two bedroom apartment in Uthmannstrasse, an area that is expected to produce rental prices of around ten per cent. He says that after studying various locations throughout the world, "we decided upon Germany and in particularly Berlin as this seemed to have all the right ingredients to become one of the most successful European markets ever".
