Samstag, 28. Juni 2008

Wall between property values falls in Berlin

Price gap between East and West Berlin finally closing

By Rachel Nolan

The past decade has been a bonanza for many real estate markets in Europe, but Germany hasn't been one of them. Now that's starting to change, particularly in Berlin, where international buyers are heavily represented. As interest in Germany's capital grows, the persistent price gap between real estate in East and West Berlin is finally closing.
In 2007, about $8.9 billion worth of residential property changed hands in Berlin, but since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, prices on the city's east side have been lagging. While the wall, which zig-zagged through the heart of the city, came down quickly, a syndrome — Berliners call it "Wall in the head" — continued to permeate thinking about property values. Houses on the same street, built in the same style, fetched far more if they were on the Western side of the vanished wall.
Indeed, as recently as 2002, prices were on average four times higher in the former West, while, according to municipal statistics, the East accounted for most of the city's 7 percent vacancy rate. In the past year, prices have roughly leveled out, but the old bias is still discernible, especially among West Germans. "I bought my apartment on the advice of a West Berlin friend who made East Berlin sound like it was somewhere in Poland," said Paul Kildea, a London-based classical music conductor.
Kildea bought his 1,250-square-foot apartment in Schöneberg, a neighborhood with elegant 19th century apartments in West Berlin, which is somewhat reminiscent of Park Slope. At $270,000, Kildea said he spent less than a fifth of what he would have paid in London. He also considered buying in Prenzlauer Berg, a greatly hyped and quickly appreciating neighborhood in East Berlin.
Both neighborhoods are lined with four to six floor residential buildings containing interior courtyards, abundant public squares and parks and connected by bike lanes as extensive as they are busy. Prenzlauer Berg, a long-time magnet for global bohemians, is the first neighborhood in East Berlin where average prices have surpassed neighborhoods in West Berlin.
Brokers that focus on Prenzlauer Berg report that their buyers are at least 25 percent international, mostly British, Irish and American investors. Foreign investors come in two types. Many of the buyers, like Kildea, are artists drawn to Berlin by its cosmopolitanism, bohemian chic, and spirited arts scene, as large and diverse as what one would find in New York or Paris. Celebrities are taking notice, too. Last year, the German edition of Vanity Fair reported that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie bought a 6,500-square-foot apartment in Marzahn, a borough in East Berlin.
The other foreign buyers are mainly investors — including major American banks — who buy to rent. They do so out of a sense that Berlin remains undervalued compared to other major world capitals and because rents are appreciating quickly.
According to the 2007 Berlin Mietspiegel (rent index), rent increased 5.8 percent over the last two years. "Germany still hasn't had the real estate boom that other countries have had," said Julian Power, director of Berlin Capital, a company that helps foreign investors buy and manage property in Berlin. "Which makes it a no-brainer to buy there." He and other brokers emphasize that profits will be mid- to long-term, so investors must be willing to hold onto properties for upwards of 10 years.
Whereas prices in central London average about $1,800 per square foot, residential properties in desirable neighborhoods like Schöneberg, Charlottenburg and Prenzlauer Berg sell for $320 to $415 per square foot.
In gritty neighborhoods where gentrification hasn't nudged prices, plenty of apartments can be found for around $110 per square foot. Unlike London, Dublin or Madrid, Berlin's property prices have been so low that the market has emerged relatively unscathed by the recent housing market cave-ins triggered by overbuilding and the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis. Still, even though prices are comparatively low, real estate in Berlin isn't the sure thing its boosters might have you believe.
The city, whose mayor describes it as "poor but sexy," is no stranger to real estate slumps. A small boom, supported by the transient hope that Berlin would become the nation's financial center (that remains Frankfurt), followed reunification. But prices dropped again in 1996, and investors were left with partially empty buildings, many renovated at great expense in the city's east. "You can see that someone spent a million euros renovating just a few years ago," said Power. "Now, investors spend 750,000 euros for the whole building and are just delighted."
Berlin's turnaround began in 2004, when Cerberus Capital Management and Goldman Sachs' Whitehall investment fund bought 65,700 units from GSW, the largest residential property developer in Germany, for $3.34 billion.
Smaller investors followed, and the market now shows signs of steadier growth. Despite barriers, internationals still make up a large proportion of buyers in Berlin partly because of the strong tradition of renting.
While 40 percent of the people in Germany own their houses, only 13 percent of those in Berlin do. "Some Americans move here and then adopt the German behavior of renting rather than buying, even when they could buy," said Deike Peters, a German academic married to an American screenwriter.
The couple bought a 1,900-square-foot apartment in Prenzlauer Berg in 2001 and have watched their friends who rent gradually get priced out of the neighborhood. At the same time, Peters realizes if, 10 years ago, they'd bought a home in Los Angeles, where the couple spends part of each year and where prices have appreciated much faster than Berlin, it would have been a more profitable investment. Still, for a large segment of foreigners investing in properties in Berlin, the allure isn't their potential return on investment. "In 2005, it was all buy and rent for profit," said Power. "Now, I have more and more people looking for lifestyle properties."
Rachel Nolan is a freelance reporter based in Berlin.
THE REAL DEAL - NEW YORK REAL ESTATE NEWS

Freitag, 27. Juni 2008

Kölner Investor baut 500 Luxuswohnungen

Schicker wohnen. Am Köllnischen Park werden Baudenkmäler durch Neubauten ergänzt. - Foto: Promo
Eine der bestgelegenen Berliner Baulücken soll bald geschlossen werden: An der Spree neben dem Berliner Ensemble will das Kölner Unternehmen Vivacon ab Oktober eine Edelwohnanlage errichten.
Designt werden die Edelwohnungen von Philippe Starck - ab September sind sie zu Quadratmeterpreisen um 6000 Euro erhältlich. Der Baubeginn ist nach Auskunft des Investors für Oktober geplant. Vivacon-Vertriebsvorstand Michael Ries beschreibt die Zielgruppe als Vermögende, „die jeden Preis zahlen würden, um in einer bestimmten Lage zu wohnen“. Die insgesamt rund 100 Wohnungen mit Blick aufs Spreedreieck und den Bahnhof Friedrichstraße sollen teilweise mehr als 400 Quadratmeter groß werden. Das Minimum werde bei etwa 75 Quadratmetern liegen; geeignet also „als Zweit- oder Drittwohnung“ für die avisierte Klientel.
Um die Nachfrage sorgt sich das Unternehmen nach eigener Auskunft nicht: Bei einer mit dem Allensbach-Institut erstellten Studie habe sich Berlin als besonders attraktives Pflaster erwiesen: Fast jeder Vierte wolle am liebsten selbst in Berlin wohnen, habe die Befragung des einkommensstärksten Viertels der deutschen Bevölkerung ergeben. Und viele würden ohnehin gern in Immobilien investieren.
Als weiteren Trend hat das Unternehmen „Wohnen auf Zeit“ ausgemacht: Kleine Apartments für Manager, die in fertig eingerichtete Wohnungen ziehen statt ins Hotel. Ein teils neu zu bauendes und teils zu sanierendes Objekt in der Chausseestraße nahe der künftigen BND-Zentrale sei dem Bauherrn schon vor Baubeginn geradezu aus den Händen gerissen worden. Ab Juli sollen etwa 30 Wohnungen gebaut und komplett eingerichtet werden, so dass beim Einzug vom Fernseher bis zum Besteck schon alles vorhanden ist. Spa mit Whirlpool und Sauna sowie Hofgarten verstehen sich von selbst.
Dickster Brocken im nach Firmenangaben 200 Millionen Euro schweren Investitionsprogramm ist die Sanierung und Erweiterung der ehemaligen AOK-Zentrale am Köllnischen Park nahe dem Märkischen Museum. Dort sollen ab 2009 etwa 375 Wohnungen entstehen – mit Erbbaupachtverträgen, so dass Käufer zumindest das Geld für den Grundstücksanteil sparen können. Dennoch soll ein Quadratmeter um die 3300 Euro kosten.
Die Strategie der Kölner Firma liegt im Trend. Reiner Rössler, Berlins Chefgutachter für Gundstückswerte, sagt: „Geld ist vorhanden, hochwertige Wohnungen laufen gut.“ Rund zwei Milliarden Euro hätten Käufer 2007 in Wohnungen investiert, fast so viel wie im Rekordjahr 2006. Die in Mode gekommenen „Townhouses“, drei- bis fünfgeschossige Reihenhäuser im Zentrum der Stadt, seien für durchschnittlich 350 000 Euro verkauft worden, das teuerste für 485 000 Euro. Unter 270 000 Euro war keines zu haben.
Der bevorzugte Stadtteil von Haus- und Wohnungskäufern ist übrigens laut Gutachter-Ausschuss Mitte: 3,5 Milliarden Euro wurden dort investiert. An zweiter Stelle rangiert Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, wo Grundstücke und Immobilien im Wert von 2,6 Milliarden Euro gehandelt wurden. Im Szenekiez Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg und in Pankow/Prenzlauer Berg wurden jeweils 1,1 Milliarden Euro investiert, geringfügig mehr als in Steglitz-Zehlendorf.
Vorbei scheint die „Heuschreckenplage“: Großinvestoren, die 2006 noch Pakete mit hunderten von Wohnungen handelten, gab es im vergangenen Jahr kaum noch. Den Gutachtern zufolge beginnt nun die „Rosinenpickerei“: Die schönsten Wohnungen und Grundstücke werden gewinnbringend weiterverkauft. Deshalb stiegen die Durchschnittspreise.
(Erschienen im gedruckten Tagesspiegel vom 27.06.2008)

Donnerstag, 26. Juni 2008

Luxus-Wohnungen in Berlin

Vivacon AG einer der größten Wohnbau-Investoren in Berlin / High-Class-Projekte im Volumen von bereits fast 210 Millionen Euro in Top-Lagen der Hauptstadt in EntwicklungMehr als 600 Luxus-Wohnungen

Köln (ots) - Mit spektakulären Projekten in Berlin baut die Vivacon AG, Köln, ihre bundesweite Stellung als Top-Anbieter hochwertigster Eigentumswohnungen weiter aus. Größtes Projekt mit einem Volumen von rund 95 Millionen Euro ist das "Luisen-Karree" am Köllnischen Park im Märkischen Viertel. Nach Erwerb eines 12 000 Quadratmeter großen Areals mit historischen Gebäuden liegt hier jetzt das Ergebnis des Architekten-Wettbewerbs vor: Auf 26.000 Quadratmetern Wohnfläche werden demnach bis zu 375 Wohnungen nach dem Konzept der renommierten Berliner Architektin Annette Axthelm entstehen. "Wir werden die unter Denkmalschutz stehenden Gebäude behutsam revitalisieren und die historische Bausubstanz mit dem Neubau luxuriöser Eigentumswohnungen verknüpfen", erklärt Michael Jung, Sprecher des Vorstands der Vivacon AG. Für ein ähnliches Projekt in Berlin wurde die Vivacon AG bereits 2007 beim Deutschen Bauherrenpreis mit einer besonderen Anerkennung ausgezeichnet. Baubeginn ist voraussichtlich Januar 2009, Fertigstellung Mitte 2010. "Das Erbbaurecht-Konzept wird diese Wohnungen zusätzlich attraktiv machen", erläutert Michael Jung. "Denn die Erwerber müssen den Grundstücksanteil nicht finanzieren." So wird das Grundstück im Eigentum der Vivacon AG verbleiben, die Erwerber erhalten für die Wohnungen ein Erbbaurecht mit einer Laufzeit von bis zu 198 Jahren.

Am Spreeufer nahe der Friedrichstraße startet die Vivacon AG zudem schon im September 2008 den Bau eines Philippe-Starck-Hauses mit knapp 100 Wohnungen im Rahmen eines Entwicklungsprojektes der Deutsche Immobilien AG. Mit dem internationalen Stardesigner hat die Vivacon AG unter der Marke "yoo Deutschland" eine bundesweit exklusive Kooperation. "Nach den großen Vertriebserfolgen der ersten beiden Starck-Häuser in Hamburg und München lange vor Fertigstellung sind wir für das neue Projekt in Berlin äußerst optimistisch", erklärt Michael Ries, Vorstand für den Bereich Development der Vivacon AG. So wird dieses Objekt durch seine exzellente Lage und Ausstattung auch in der Hauptstadt neue Maßstäbe für Luxuswohnungen setzen: Ein spektakulärer terassenförmiger Baukörper eröffnet über den direkt vorgelagerten Bertold-Brecht-Platz den Blick auf das Spreeufer. Die Wohnfläche liegt insgesamt bei 13.200 Quadratmetern, das Projektvolumen bei rund 77 Millionen Euro. Jede Wohnung wird dabei individuell durch Designer Philippe Starck konzeptioniert. Die Fertigstellung ist für Ende 2010 geplant.

Für das dritte Vivacon-Projekt in Berlin erfolgt der Baustart bereits in Kürze: "Living 106" auf historischem Boden in der Chausseestraße unweit des Berliner Reichstags. Hier entstehen rund 60 komplett ausgestattete und Wellness-orientierte Eigentumswohnungen samt Spa, Whirlpool und Sauna-Bereichen auf 5.300 Quadratmetern Nutzfläche. Das Konzept richtet sich an Bewohner, die in Berlin eine sofort bezugsfertige edle Wohnung suchen mit vielfältigen Dienstleistungsangeboten wie etwa Reinigungs- und Besorgungsservices. "Als Neubau ist ´Living 106`für Kapitalanleger und Selbstnutzer konzipiert, die das Besondere in City-Lage suchen", führt Michael Ries aus. Das Projektvolumen liegt bei rund 20 Millionen Euro. Die Fertigstellung ist für Ende 2009 geplant.

Im Berliner Stadtteil Britz, bekannt durch die zur Bundesgartenschau geschaffenen "Britzer Gärten" und gut gelegen zum neuen internationalen Airport BBI Schönefeld, entsteht schließlich das vierte Vivacon-Wohnbau-Projekt "Britzer Parkvillen". Auf einem 29.000 Quadratmeter großen Gartenareal bilden den Kern des Projekts mit einem Volumen von gut 17 Millionen Euro neun denkmalgeschützte Jugendstil-Villen. Bis zu 78 Eigentumswohnungen zwischen 50 und 117 Quadratmetern Größe werden hierin mit modernstem Komfort entstehen, wobei das historische Ambiente unterstrichen wird. Zudem wird ein Erbbaurecht, das von der Vivacon AG auf das Grundstück bestellt wurde, Käufern und Investoren die Finanzierung des Grundstücksanteils ersparen. "Durch einen entsprechend reduzierten Kaufpreis können wir auch hier von großem Interesse ausgehen", erläutert Michael Jung.

Die SDAX notierte Vivacon AG ist bundesweit führend bei Revitalisierung und Verkauf denkmalgeschützter Immobilien. Auch vertreibt sie bundesweit exklusiv unter der Marke "yoo Deutschland" von Designer Phillippe Starck konzeptionierte Eigentumswohnungen und bietet darüber hinaus Neubau-Eigentumswohnungen in absoluten Top-Lagen deutscher Metropolen an.

Zudem ist die Vivacon AG in marktführender Position als Investment- und Asset Manager für Wohnimmobilienbestände. Die Curanis Gruppe - eine 80%ige Tochtergesellschaft der Vivacon AG - betreut an über 250 Standorten in Deutschland mehr als 58.000 Wohn- und Gewerbeeinheiten mit einem Marktvolumen von mehr als 4 Milliarden Euro.
ots

Originaltext: Vivacon AGIm Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.ch

Victoria Properties acquires residential and office property in Berlin

Victoria Properties has acquired a centrally located Berlin property at a purchase price of approximately €9.5 million. The acquisition contains both residential and office units and covers an area of 4,312 m² plus an underground parking lot. Expected triple net yield is 5.48%.

The property is located in one of the most attractive and sought-after areas in Berlin, namely Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf – the street running parallel to the most attractive part of the famous street of Kurfürstendamm, and in close vicinity of the Adenauer Platz and the Olivaer Platz. The area is one of the most attractive locations in Berlin with rents and incomes above average.

Victoria Properties’ investment strategy for 2008 focuses primarily on real estate investments in the seven major cities in the Western part of Germany, including Berlin. Investments are carried out as direct investments (owned 100% by Victoria Properties) and in the form of joint ventures with external investors where Victoria Properties acts as Fund & Asset Manager of the investments. With this acquisition, the total asset value of the portfolio of Victoria Properties is DKK 1.749 billion (€234.5 million)

Berlin Rentals Rock

Read more about investing in overseas real estate in International Living Postcards—your daily escape

My friend, Ronan McMahon, thinks he knows where the next hot rental market is...and it's not where you think.

“Berlin?” I asked. “Are you kidding?”

“Property prices in the German capital haven't roared ahead like they have in the rest of Europe," Ronan said, "but rental yields have rocketed.”

And for good reason, he tells me—85% of Berliners are renters. Apartments cost about $1,450 per square meter, and rental yields are running around 7%.

Ronan thinks that there’s good money to be made providing places for all those Berliners to live.
He's on his way to the German capital—and he's also going back to Fortaleza, Brazil, to dig into a time-sensitive deal there.

Dienstag, 24. Juni 2008

Diamona & Harnisch errichtet für knapp 100 Mio. Euro hochwertige Berliner Wohnresidenzen

(lifepr) Berlin, 24.06.2008 - .- Internationale Investorengemeinschaft investiert an vier Standorten - Kombination aus eleganter Architektur und energiesparender BauweiseDas Premiumwohnsegment boomt in der Hauptstadt. Mit seiner zentralen Lage im Herzen Europas, hoher Lebensqualität bei niedrigem Preisniveau sowie hohem wirtschaftlichen Potenzial zieht Berlin viele ausländische Investoren an. Die Projektentwicklungsgesellschaft Diamona & Harnisch Berlin Development prägt den Trend zur Renaissance der Stadt mit Projekten für anspruchsvolles Wohnen in City-Lage. Mit ihren Investitionen in die Choriner Höfe, die Lychener Straße 53, das Fichtenberg Carré und den Diplomatenpark leistet sie einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Stadtentwicklung und unterstützt die Profilierung Berlins auch als Metropole für gehobenes Wohnen.Diamona & Harnisch ist eine Gemeinschaft, die aus internationalen Investoren besteht. Sie setzt sich zusammen aus der Fania Holding B.V., einer israelisch-niederländischen Investorengemeinschaft und dem Berliner Projektentwickler Harnisch & Partner. "Aus dem Zusammenschluss im Jahr 2007 ergeben sich enorme Synergieeffekte", erläutert Alexander Harnisch, Geschäftsführer der Diamona & Harnisch Berlin Development GmbH. "Während die Fania internationale Erfahrung aus den Bereichen Finanzierung und Vermarktung einbringt, besitzt Harnisch & Partner detaillierte Vor-Ort-Kenntnisse und blickt auf 17jährige Kompetenz im Bereich Altbausanierung im Berliner Stadtgebiet zurück." Der Projektentwickler arbeitet mit hoch qualifizierten und erfahrenen Mitarbeitern. Mit einem Gesamtinvestitionsvolumen von knapp 100 Mio. Euro verwirklicht die internationale Projektentwicklungsgesellschaft D&H in Zusammenarbeit mit renommierten Architekturbüros sowie prämierten Landschafts- und Innenarchitekten vier ambitionierte Bauvorhaben: Die Choriner Höfe in Mitte, Lychener Str. 53 am Prenzlauer Berg, Stadthäuser im Diplomatenpark und das Fichtenberg Carré in Steglitz-Zehlendorf. "Gemeinsam ist den Projekten die Verbindung von anspruchsvollem, hochwertigen Komfort und Großstadtflair. Zugleich reflektiert ihre Platzierung in verschiedenen Vierteln und ihre individuelle Bauweise den Facettenreichtum und die Vielfalt Berlins", so Harnisch.Hochwertige innerstädtische Immobilien als attraktive KapitalanlageAls einer der führenden Investoren im Bereich gehobener Wohnkultur unterscheidet sich Diamona & Harnisch von anderen Anbietern in der Verknüpfung von moderner, puristischer Architektur und energieeffizienter Konstruktion. So erfüllen alle Bauvorhaben dank konsequenter Anwendung neuester Technologien die hohen Anforderungen zur Energieeinsparung des KfW-60-Standards - ohne an architektonischer Qualität einzubüßen. Die Anwendung von Kraftwärmekopplung, Geothermie und Solarenergie wird geprüft. Fundiertes Wissen zu nachhaltiger und umweltfreundlicher Bauweise unter Berücksichtigung modernster energetischer Konzepte bringt Alexander Harnisch durch Beteiligungen an Unternehmen ein, die sich mit dem Einsatz erneuerbarer Energien (Wind, Solar und Geothermie) befassen. Zu den Käufern der hochwertigen Immobilien gehören Künstler und junge Familien, aber auch Anwälte, Manager und Unternehmensberater aus dem In- und Ausland. "Unsere Kunden sind nicht ausschließlich an der Selbstnutzung der Eigentumswohnungen und Townhouses interessiert, sondern vermieten sie auch gern. Die Immobilien in begehrten Lagen sind zugleich eine sichere Kapitalanlage mit solide wachsender Rendite", erläutert Harnisch. Weitere Projekte sind u.a. auf dem Areal nördlich des Hauptbahnhofs geplant. Das städtebauliche Engagement von D&H ist ein klares Bekenntnis zum Wirtschaftsstandort Berlin und trägt zum Aufstieg der Hauptstadt in die Liga der Top-Metropolen bei.Aktuelle Projekte von Diamona & HarnischChoriner Höfe- Areal zwischen Choriner und Zehdenicker Straße, Berlin Mitte- Neun Häuser inkl. Tiefgarage- 116 Wohnungen, 7 Gewerbeeinheiten- Wohnungsgrößen zwischen 50 und 240 qm - Verkaufspreise zwischen 2.400 und 5.500 €/qm- 41,5 Mio. Euro GesamtinvestitionsvolumenLychener 53- Lychener Straße 53, Berlin Prenzlauer Berg- Ein Stadthaus bestehend aus Vorderhaus, Seitenflügel, Gartenhaus; inkl. Tiefgarage- 23 Wohnungen, 2 Gewerbeeinheiten- Wohnungsgrößen zwischen 60 und 140 qm- Verkaufspreise zwischen 2.800 und 4.600 €/qm- 6,5 Mio. Euro GesamtinvestitionsvolumenFichtenberg Carré- Rückertstraße 11/12, Berlin Steglitz-Zehlendorf- Vier Gebäude inkl. Tiefgarage- 22 Wohnungen und 9 Townhouses- Wohnungsgrößen zwischen 55 und 230 qm- Verkaufspreise zwischen 2.800 und 3.500 €/qm- 13 Mio. Euro GesamtinvestitionsvolumenDiplomatenpark- Tiergartenstraße, Berlin Tiergarten- Vier Stadtvillen mit je eigener Tiefgarage- 32 Wohneinheiten- Wohnflächen zwischen 1.900 und 2.100 qm- Verkaufspreise zwischen 4.500 und 9.500 €/qm- 35,5 Mio. Euro Gesamtinvestitionsvolumen
Ansprechpartner:
Frau Ute GombertBusiness Network Marketing- und Verlagsgesellschaft mbHJetzt eine Nachricht sendenTelefon: +49 (30) 814646-00Fax: +49 (30) 814646-046

quelle: http://www.lifepr.de/pressemeldungen/diamona-harnisch-berlin-development-gmbh/boxid-51213.html

Berlin Property Changing

The city of Berlin is reinvigorating its city center, creating urban spaces where people can work and live without having to travel long distances, and without having to pay huge sums of money for the privilege. Townhouses are at the heart of this urban renaissance in the German capital, and there are currently as many as five projects under way or recently completed, according to a recent article in the International Herald Tribune

The townhouses, designed after New York brownstones and Kensington row houses, are being constructed mostly around the neighborhoods of Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte. The Prenzlauer Gardens is one such development, and it opened to residents last fall. The homes and the neighborhood are family friendly, inviting young couples with kids to settle down.

This particular project was constructed on what was once a brewery, and now consists of 61 townhouses and 49 apartments. According to Wile Gopel, with the development company Urban Spaces, sales have averaged more than €400,000 and all the units are sold out. “People no longer want to miss out on living in the city center,” he noted.

One of the principal movers for the downtown redevelopment was Hans Stimmann, who was Berlin’s building director. In 2002 he set aside 1.4 hectares for townhouses in the Mitte neighborhood at the heart of the city. While the move was controversial at the time, it is certainly paying off with a flurry of new homes in a three-block area called the Berlin Townhouses . By the end of 2008 there will be 54 homes, with prices ranging from €600,000 to €1 million.

Other new developments include Kastaniengärten in Prenzlauer Berg, with two-level homes and townhouses, and the Puccini Hofgärten, a mix of pre-war apartment buildings, lofts and townhouses in the east Berlin neighborhood of Weissensee. These popular homes have long been a staple of life in major cities and now they are helping to remake Berlin.

Berlin has kept low property prices while prices all around the world have been steadily increasing. Berlin offers low entry level compared to other cities around the world , investors are attracted to its strong rental market . Property prices expected to rise fast over the next 5 years.

Montag, 23. Juni 2008

Berlin Property for Sale

Property for sale in Berlin is seen as one of the best investments at the moment. A McIntosh, an economic adviser, believes that, along with London and Paris, Berlin will become one of the three most important cities in Europe in the 21st century and thus the sale prices of properties will only rise.

Berlin Properties for sale prices are at a low at the moment, as the situation regarding home finance can be compared to the UK before Margaret Thatcher enabled people to buy their council houses. Experts have predicted that the situation within the UK in the last twenty years can easily be replicated within Germany, with a major growth in house-buying to come. There is a flood of foreign investment with some investors buying whole apartment blocks, aiming to sell each of the properties individually, making great capital gains.

Property for sale in Berlin is still fairly in it's infancy. At around 40%, Germany has one of the lowest home ownership rates in Europe, with most Berliners renting their properties.

Emerging Real Estate have several Berlin properties for sale. Most property markets in Western Europe are at the peak of their growth, whereas Berlin is at the beginning of theirs. After years of rebuilding following reunification, Germany is entering a new period of growth. Industry experts are predicting a pick up in the economy, and along with this will naturally increase spending power, and of course, property sale prices.

It sounds daft to put Germany in a group of emerging markets, but in property circles, it most definitely is. It currently offers fantastic opportunities for investors looking for capital growth, and due to the current housing sale market in Berlin, there are many high rental yields available to the investor.

Amberlamb suggests the property sales market in Berlin has been static for the past five years and as such offers investors an ideal opportunity to make real gains in the long-term. However, it is also a perfect place for those seeking rental income. This is simply because the Germans like to rent their houses.

Overall, now is the right time to invest in Berlin Properties for Sale. The sale properties are at the right price at the moment, and you shouldn't wait to invest in the city.

http://www.emergingrealestate.com/berlin-property/berlin-property-for-sale.htm

Buying Berlin Property

The demand for buying property in Berlin is on the up, due to prices in other countries appearing to hit their limit, whilst they are still at an attractive limit within Germany. Large companies such as Goldman Sachs/Cyberus Morgan Stanley and the Puma Pension Fund are investing up to $1 billion each in properties in the German Capital.

Very little housing construction has taken place in the last 10 years, spelling out an expected housing price increase due to the eventual shortage. A bright future is being predicted for investors into Berlin, as house prices are expected to rise, with over half of the inhabitants under the age of 35, there will be a cultural shift towards those buying their own homes, and we should expect to see a increase in house prices in the near future.

There's been a lot of interest in Germany recently, led by major institutions and banks who can sniff a profit. The investment levels shown by these major investors buying Berlin property, will start to drive prices up, which keeps home ownership down, although the demand will still be there.

There are great opportunities to make short term capital gains, or long term financial yields when buying property in Berlin. When buying in Germany, both these options are available to investors, so it is worth considering which is more important to you.

The boom in construction in the early 1990's happened at the same time a large number of residents left Berlin but, more importantly, their spending power diminished, also coinciding with an increase in unemployment levels. The result was a drop in house prices in the city.

Between 1994 and 2004, new development prices dropped by 30%. Germany is the only country in Europe where prices dropped in this time period. Berlin now represents the most competitively priced investments in Europe.

A long period of economic stagnation has helped to open up some new opportunities in the German property market. The introduction into the Euro had a devastating effect on the German economy and the stock market, leading Germans to look at buying property as an alternative to buying shares. A new government and new policies have woken up the sleeping economy, offering different kinds of investments for the inhabitants and foreign investors.

Now is the time for the smaller overseas property investor to consider buying in Berlin's housing market. Research reveals compelling evidence that buying property in Berlin is the next big thing in European city investment.

Berlin Investment Property

Investment Property in Berlin is becoming more and more sought after, as more and more people hear about the returns to be made on Berlin Property Investment.

The economy in Germany grew by 2.5% in 2006, with confidence amongst business leaders at it's highest point in 15 years, Germany's economy is finally on the edge of recovery. Along with a strong export industry, these factors point to an increase in house prices, making now an ideal time to invest.

There has been a high increase in the number of investors buying Berlin investment property due to the long period of economic stagnation, particularly in the Eastern part of the country, such as Berlin, keeping property prices low. An increase in the amount of investment in the city has started, and will soon become an investment boom. Now is the time to consider investing.

The German government is due to liberalise the mortgage market, meaning an increase in the number of Germans interested in buying their houses, rather than renting them out. Around 60$ rent their house out, bringing increased demand for purchasing, upon the liberalisation of mortgages within the country.

There is an expected growth of 2.5% in 2007, with house prices expected to increase by 0.5%. There is a flurry of investment into Berlin with many UK and European investment banks attracted by low costs and cheaper commercial office space. Upon the reunification of Germany, Berlin has had to play catch up with Munich and Frankfurt, and is finally starting to catch-up.

However, there is the unusual situation of property in a capital city half the price of other cities within the country.

The best areas within Berlin to purchase investment property are in Charlottenburg and Mitte, amongst the most exclusive in the city. However, these are the investments which are likely to see the biggest price increases over the next five years, as more and more Berliners look to invest in their own homes. As investment property in Berlin increases in popularity, now is the time to buy.

Freitag, 20. Juni 2008

Berlin Property: Unprecented Growth Makes a Hot Prospect

The reports are true; Berlin is currently one of the safest countries in the world to make a property investment, but a new report also hints at it being one of the best, writes Liam Bailey.


According to a major study into the Berlin housing market in the first quarter of 2008, rental rates are growing in every district in the city. It is 50/50; in 6 of the 12 districts rental rate growth is accelerating, and in the other 6 it is slowing, but in none are rents bottoming out or falling.


In the same report last year, rental rate growth was accelerating in only three districts: Spandau, Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, and Treptow-Köpenick, in all the rest rents were either bottoming out or falling.


In Spandau, which displayed the fastest growing rental rates in last year’s report, rental rate growth has begun to slow according to the recent report, but in the other two districts that saw accelerating rental rate growth last year — Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and Treptow-Köpenick — rental rate growth is still accelerating.


Mitte and Neukölln, two districts that saw falling rental rates this time last year, along with Pankow and Steglitz-Zehlendorf, that both saw rental rates bottoming out last year, have joined Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and Treptow-Köpenick in the rental rate accelerating bracket in this year’s report.


The fact that 5 of the 6 districts now seeing rental rate growth slowing, were in the rental rates bottoming out, or rental rates falling brackets in the report this time last year, means that they must have seen accelerated growth at some time over the past year. This all shows that Berlin rental rates have been on an upward trend for the past year.


Germany’s government is strict about rental rate rises in Berlin. It has to be, to avoid people being priced onto the streets because of the large portion of Berlin’s population forced to live in rented accommodation, because they haven’t been able to buy their own home. Landlords are only allowed to raise rental rates when the economy and wages are growing, and even then by no more than 20% in three years. Berlin rental growth is so strong now because the economy is extremely strong.


The extremely large proportion of Berlin residents either forced or choosing to live in rented accommodation (82%) gives Berlin one of the strongest residential rental markets in the world, but government control means residential tenancies barely achieve more than a five percent yield.


The current unprecedented level of economic growth, and the fact that it is largely fuelled by growth in the export sector, which should see Germany survive a rocky global economy better than most, has brought reports that the government may soon be able to bring new legislation relaxing the strict laws governing rental rate rises.


For the first time there is hope of achieving higher yields in Berlin, which should really be the case from the solid all year round rental that is so easily achievable. But even without a government relaxation, the growth in Berlin rental rates without government help, the aforementioned stability of Germany’s economy and the high likelihood of it best weathering the global economic storm, is turning Berlin into one of the world’s most popular destinations for a property investment.

source: http://propertyabroad.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/berlin-property-unprecented-growth-makes-a-hot-prospect/

Donnerstag, 19. Juni 2008

Berlin Mitte goes Bilbao


Is downtown Berlin the next Bilbao? Daniel Miller reports on plans for a massive creative development at the heart of Germany’s capital including a modern art museum rivalling Frank Gehry’s flashy Guggenheim.

Ever since Frank Gehry’s fantastically popular titanium Guggenheim branch sparked the rebirth of the gritty Basque city of Bilbao in northern Spain, the contemporary art museum has become a favourite tool to drive urban regeneration efforts.

So it’s perhaps only logical for Berlin – having staked its economic future on the creative industries – to follow the Basque example by confirming this week the construction of a bold new structure for 21st century art right near the city’s new central train station.

“Museums are capable of attracting the people to an area and upgrading it,” Torsten Wöhlert, spokesman for Berlin’s culture ministry, told The Local on Wednesday. “This mirrors the development of Berlin itself, which over the last ten years has become a European, if not global centre for creativity and the arts.”

Wöhlert said details of the ambitious plans for a new contemporary art museum would be officially announced at the end of the month, but the German press reported this week that city had agreed to a controversial deal where a private investor would build an architectural masterpiece in return for the building rights on the exclusive waterfront property right next to the train station.

Most speculation in the Berlin art scene has been focused on Nicolas Berggruen, the son of the deceased art collector Heinz Berggruen. Not only does he have an impressive selection of artwork for such a high-profile project, but he also has good contacts with city officials, according to daily Die Welt.

“The plan is already established,” Wöhlert said. “Berlin will provide only the basics, and others will contribute the rest.”

If successful, the bold museum project will anchor the redevelopment of a massive swath of Berlin’s still barren centre.

Heidestrasse, a long street dominated by cars and flanked by underused warehouses, ends right where the new museum will be built. Perhaps surprisingly, nearly 20 years after German reunification, the road at heart of the country’s capital is essentially a useless wasteland - aside from moving traffic to the nearby train station.

Yet changes are afoot. A number of art galleries – among them the prestigious, Christie's-controlled contemporary dealer Haunch of Venison – have begun to spring up on the street's southern end, attracted by cheap and plentiful space in warehouses close to Berlin’s modern art museum the Hamburger Bahnhof.

Bigger than Potsdamer Platz

And the redevelopment of the area is set to intensify after a collaborative design by the architects KCAP/ASTOC and Studio Urban Catalyst was selected last month to form the basis of a master plan for the derelict district. Involving around 610,000 square metres of floor area and 1,200 apartments, the project is around twice the size of Berlin’s vast construction site at Potsdamer Platz in the 1990s.

Those works remain controversial to this day. Writing on the topic in the New York Review of Books in November 2001, the venerable American architecture critic Martin Filler attacked the development as super-sized, anti-urban, and cravenly commercial. Vivico, the real estate developer which is the driving force between the Heidestrasse project, claims that their own approach is different. “The Potsdamer Platz development was emotionally very connected to German unification,” said the company's spokesman Wilhelm Brandt. “In a way, it was very revolutionary. Our project is more evolutionary. It’s about the new Berlin Mitte, and about how one can organically grow and develop a quarter.”

Vivico is a former government subsidiary, privatized at the beginning of the year, and now owned by the Austrian real estate giant CA Immo. The holder of vast tracts of inner-city brownfield sites, once owned by railway operator Deutsche Bahn, but bequeathed to the German government in 2001. The company's last major urban regeneration project was Munich's Arnulfpark, a large-scale exercise in a mixed-use district that the company say is their working model for Heidestrasse.

Berlin isn't Munich

But Berlin isn't Munich, and in a least one major respect, Vivico have altered their development concept dramatically. Whereas the breakneck speed of the Arnulfpark development earned the project the title of “Munich’s Fastest Construction Site,” the Heidestrasse project is expected to reach completion any time between 10 and 15 years – according to Vivico – and 20 to 30 years, according to Studio Urban Catalyst's principal architect Klaus Overmeyer.

The logic behind this drawn-out time-scale is commercial: while Bavaria's capital enjoys a lucrative shortage of real estate, Berlin suffers from a less-profitable glut.

According to Overmeyer, Berlin presently plays host to around two million square feet of empty office space – a fact that means that natural demand for a further 100,000 square metres is essentially non-existent. Hence Vivico have been drawn to pursue a slow-burn strategy of artificial stimulation, managed through a series of phases that boil-down, in effect, to successive injections of art. The first of these remains represented in the Hamburger Bahnhof itself – a building that Vivico owns.

The latest was completed two weeks ago in the form of the Halle am Wasser, a renovated modernist shed housing six upmarket, commercial galleries.The Halle am Wasser is the first element of a larger development program that Vivico call the “kunst-campus”. The operational idea is to catalyze the area with creativity, in order to clear a path for more directly profitable developments later.

Vivico’s Brandt admitted they had been surprised by the announcement of the new modern art museum this week, but told Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel it could only increase the development’s creative pull.

“It’s like a sausage counter – the bigger the selection the better,” he quipped.

Berlin to Exchange Exclusive Real Estate for New Art Museum

source: DW-WORLD.DE
The city of Berlin wants a new modern art museum based on Guggenheim's recipe for success in Bilbao, Spain. To get it, the German capital is willing to part with a prime piece of real estate.
Developers and investors would pay millions to build on Berlin's centrally located Humboldt Harbor, just next to the city's new Central Station. But now the city is making the four-part, 16,000 square-meter (170,000 square-foot) plot available for free.

There's just one catch: The taker has to include a 10,000 square-meter modern art museum in the shopping and office complex that's foreseen for the site.

According to the call for bids, which are to be advertised throughout Europe at the end of the month, the new museum should resemble the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Completed in 1997, the masterpiece by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry is one of five modern art museums funded by the Guggenheim Foundation.

A stylish building and massive modern art collection did just the trick to rejuvenate the small town of Bilbao. The one million tourists who visit the Spanish Guggenheim each year are a financial windfall for Bilbao.

Prospective buyer

Multi-billionaire developer Nicolas Berggruen is considered a favorite for the Berlin project. Both art and money run in the family. His father Heinz Berggruen, who died last year at the age of 93, offered his 750-million-euro art collection to the state-run Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation in 2000 in a gesture of reconciliation.

Berggruen, the elder, fled Germany during the Holocaust and immigrated to the US. He didn't return to Germany until 1996. The Berggruen Museum across from the Charlottenburg Palace was built to house the family's Classical Modern collection, which boasts works by Picasso, Klee, Giacometti and Matisse.

According to a report in the Berliner Zeitung, 46-year-old Nicolas Berggruen is also considering several other locations in Berlin for his own substantial modern art collection.

Land-for-museum deal questioned

The terms of the unusual agreement have stirred up some political controversy in a country where privately sponsored cultural institutions are a rarity and where complaints about under-funded museums are commonplace.

Greens fiscal spokesperson Jochen Esser, for example, warned against "giving away plots of land for free that are worth millions."

Dubbed "poor but sexy" by its own Mayor Klaus Wowereit, the German capital could do with a tourism-driven financial boost a la Bilbao -- regardless of who owns the museum.

However, a little competition wouldn't hurt the Hamburg Bahnhof, Berlin's only other modern art museum, opined the German daily Die Welt on Thursday, June 19. Critics have complained about the lack of innovative new exhibitions in the museum. The state-sponsored museum was built in 1996 to house several private collections, including that of Erich Marx. Notably, in 2004, it also obtained a seven-year loan of the Friedrich Christian Flick Collection.

Also coming soon: exhibition hall

According to reports, the museum at Berlin's Humboldt Harbor is not intended to replace plans for a new national exhibition hall in the city, which have had Wowereit's support. The hall would provide exhibition space for international artists who live or work in Berlin, but a location has not yet been determined.

In the meantime, ground was recently broken for a temporary exhibition space on the Schlossplatz, which is scheduled to open in October and remain there for two years.

Mittwoch, 18. Juni 2008

Berlin - "Europe´s Butterfly" - USA TODAY

Berlin is Europe's butterfly—albeit a funky one—having metamorphosed from the epicenter of Hitler's Third Reich to the symbol of the Iron Curtain to finally, in the last 20 years, a mecca for artists, hipsters, and cultural alchemists. It's sort like Greenwich Village 20 years ago mixed with some of Tokyo's modernism, and punctuated by reminders of the past, both the darker days and the more splendid imperial era.

"The city is dynamic—it's always changing and there is always something new to discover," says Heather Ellis, a Pennsylvania native who now lives in Berlin. "Berlin is literally alive with history in a way that no other city in Europe is. It's young because of its students, full of culture because of its artists, and a bit unpolished because of its past, which makes it seem like the visitor has stumbled onto something truly special. It is also much cheaper than any other major Western European city."

With literally hundreds of museums and galleries and thousands of restaurants, shops, and nightclubs, there's no shortage of things to see and do in the city. Be sure to pick up a Berlin WelcomeCard, (16.50 euros for 48 hours, 21.50 euros for 72 hours) which offers free public transportation and half-price admission to more than 130 attractions. Some must-see museums include the Gemaldegalerie (8 euros), which houses some of Europe's top collections of 13th to 18th century art and the Pergamonmuseum (8 euros), which displays Greek and Roman antiquities and Islamic art. Sarah Steinberg, an engineer from Boston who studied in Berlin, highly recommends the Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie (Berlin Wall Museum; 9.50 euros) and the Judisches Museum (5 euros), a sobering and powerful museum focusing on Jewish history in Germany. "It is seriously amazing and one of my favorite museums in all Europe," says Steinberg.

You should take some time to walk around the city and explore its different neighborhoods. "If you're here on a Sunday, I would say do as the Berliners do: Have lazy brunch in Prenzlauerberg (a pretty neighborhood with lots of cafes and shops) and then spend the afternoon at the Mauerpark Flea Market (one of several weekend markets in Berlin where you pick up some real bargains)," says Ellis.

Many Berliners treat clubbing almost as a second job, so, for tourists, going to night clubs is a great way to experience the city's latest music, trends, and fashion on full display. Since clubs come and go almost overnight, it's hard to make specific recommendations, but if you pick up a copy of the English-language Ex-Berliner, you'll find listings for the latest hot spots.

Freitag, 13. Juni 2008

Städte-Ranking: Berlin schlägt London

Die weltweite Finanzkrise hält Europas Immobilienmärkte im Würgegriff - mit einer Ausnahme:
Berlin.

Das Interesse der Investoren wächst: Die Immobilien am Potsdamer Platz wurden gerade für rund zwei Milliarden Euro an die schwedische SEB-Bank und das Investmenthaus Morgan Stanley verkauft

Berlin - Die weltweite Finanzkrise hält Europas Immobilienmärkte im Würgegriff - mit einer Ausnahme: Berlin. Während in London, Paris und Madrid die Preise von Bürotürmen und Einkaufszentren, von Eigentumswohnungen und Penthäusern in die Tiefe rauschen, zeigt sich der Markt in der deutschen Hauptstadt erstaunlich stabil. Denn Investoren aus Skandinavien, den USA und dem Nahen Osten investieren kräftig in Berliner Objekte.
Fast im Wochentakt starten neue Projekte für Wohnquartiere und Hotels. Der Neubau des Großflughafens BBI und die Pläne für den Airport Tempelhof locken Großinvestoren aus aller Welt an. Rund um den Hauptbahnhof wachsen ganze Stadtquartiere aus dem Boden. Die Medienwirtschaft, innovative Industrien, die Pharmabranche und vor allem der Tourismus boomen.

Welchen Reiz die deutsche Hauptstadt auf milliardenschwere ausländische Immobiliengesellschaften hat, zeigt eine aktuelle Umfrage der Wirtschaftsberatungsgesellschaft PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) und des renommierten Forschungsinstituts Urban Land (ULI) unter rund 500 internationalen Immobilienexperten. Danach ist die deutsche Hauptstadt im Ranking der europäischen Standorte binnen Jahresfrist von Platz 25 auf Rang neun gestiegen.
Vier deutsche Städte liegen vorn Zwar schnitten Frankfurt/Main, Hamburg und München noch besser ab. Doch eines zeigte die Umfrage deutlich, meint Helmut Trappmann, Leiter des Immobilienbereichs bei PwC: "Berlin hat sich als Immobilienstandort zurückgemeldet." Die Entwicklung in Berlin sei bemerkenswert, lag es im Städte-Ranking 2007 noch abgeschlagen auf den hinteren Plätzen. "Über den Aufstieg aus dem unteren Feld in die Führungsliga der europäischen Immobilienstandorte freuen wir uns", sagte Berlins Bausenatorin Ingeborg Junge-Reyer (SPD). "Wir merken auch auf der Mipim in Cannes, wie stark das Interesse an Berlin ist."
Auf dem Berliner Immobilienmarkt sehen die PwC-Experten vor allem Potenzial für Wohnimmobilien. Hier raten 45 Prozent zum Kauf. Allerdings werden die Investitionsrisiken in Berlin (Rang 18) höher als in Hamburg und München eingeschätzt.

Nicht nur bei Wohn-, sondern auch bei Gewerbeimmobilien sehen Investoren in der Hauptstadt Potenzial. Das bestätigt auch Rolf Scheffler, Chefanalyst der Immobilienberatungsgesellschaft Aengevelt: "Weil Unternehmen in Berlin weiterhin neue Mitarbeiter einstellen, gehen Investoren davon aus, dass das Flächenangebot bei Wohn- und Gewerbeimmobilien in den kommenden Jahren schrumpfen und die Mieten von Wohnungen, Büros und Einzelhandelsflächen steigen werden."

Die hohe Erwartungshaltung spiegelt sich auch in der Preisentwicklung wider. "Während die Preise bei Londoner Gewerbeimmobilien seit Beginn der Krise im vergangenen Sommer um 20 Prozent gefallen sind, haben Berliner Topobjekte seither kaum an Wert verloren", berichtet Scheffler. In Toplagen ziehen die Spitzenmieten für Büros sogar wieder an.

Wie viel Geld manche Investoren trotz der Finanzkrise für Berliner Trophäen zu zahlen bereit sind, zeigt das Beispiel Potsdamer Platz. Ende vergangenen Jahres, inmitten der Turbulenzen an den Finanzmärkten, erwarb die schwedische SEB-Bank das Quartier vom Automobilkonzern Daimler für ihren offenen Immobilienfonds Immoinvest zum stolzen Preis von 1,4 Mrd. Euro. Die Bank beziffert die Rendite aus den Mieteinnahmen mit fünf Prozent. Das gesamte Sony-Center ging gerade an US-amerikanische Investoren wie Morgan Stanley. Die Rede ist von 600 Millionen Euro.

Dass Deutschlands Hauptstadt dem rauen Sturm an den internationalen Immobilienmärkten trotzt, hat mehrere Ursachen. "Anders als an vielen anderen Standorten stehen in Berlin derzeit vergleichsweise wenige Immobilien überhaupt zum Verkauf", analysiert Aengevelt-Chefanalyst Scheffler. Nach seinen Berechnungen wechselten in 2006 und 2007 Wohn- und Gewerbeimmobilien im Gesamtwert von 29,8 Mrd. Euro in der Hauptstadt den Eigentümer. Nach einer Studie der Beratungsgesellschaft Atisreal übertraf das Investmentvolumen am Berliner Gewerbeimmobilienmarkt im vergangenen Jahr erstmals sogar das Geschehen in München und fiel lediglich geringfügig geringer aus als in der Bankenmetropole Frankfurt/Main.
Wegen der hohen Erwerbsnebenkosten (Makler-, Notargebühr, Grunderwerbsteuern) werden Immobilien aber nicht sofort wieder am Markt angeboten. Die Käufer trennen sich meist erst dann von ihren Objekten, wenn deren Marktwert deutlich gestiegen ist. Scheffler: "Deshalb werden in diesem Jahr deutlich weniger Immobilien in Berlin zum Kauf angeboten werden als in den Vorjahren." Das dürfte das Preisniveau auch in den kommenden Monaten weiter stabilisieren. Preisstabilisierend wirkt zudem der Anstieg der Büromieten. Denn internationale Konzerne entdecken zunehmend Berlin als Standort.

So verlagerte vergangenes Jahr das US-Pharmaunternehmen Pfizer seine Deutschlandzentrale von Karlsruhe in die Spreemetropole. Nach einer Studie der Immobilienberater von CB Richard Ellis verteuerten sich die Büromieten in Berlin im vergangenen Jahr im Schnitt um 4,8 Prozent. Damit fiel der Anstieg signifikant höher aus als in vielen anderen Städten. In Hamburg konnten Eigentümer bei Neu- und Anschlussvermietungen die Preise lediglich um 2,2 Prozent erhöhen, in Lissabon nur um 1,3 Prozent. In Amsterdam, Athen und Brüssel stagnierten die Mietpreise sogar.

Mieten ziehen in der City an Nach einer Untersuchung der Beratungsgesellschaft DTZ müssen Unternehmen für Büroflächen im West-Teil heute 2,50 Euro mehr pro Quadratmeter und Monat zahlen als vor einem Jahr. In der Innenstadt-Ost stiegen die Spitzenmieten gar um fünf Euro. Weitere Impulse erwartet DTZ-Bürovermietungschef Rainer Hamacher vom Ausbau des Flughafens Schönefeld zum Berlin-Brandenburg International (BBI): "Das wird die Hauptstadt wirtschaftlich ein großes Stück voranbringen und für die Ansiedlung weiterer Unternehmen sorgen."


Mittwoch, 11. Juni 2008

Berlin is Bearing up well after its troubled history

Both sides of the unified German capital house museums, many of them so small you might miss them, writes Jenny Woolf.

In less than 20 years, the re-unified Berlin has become one of the most exciting modern cities in the world. Its major sights and museums are well-known, but several of its smaller museums are no less fascinating. The Bauhaus Archive in Tiergarten covers the history of the famous art and design school which ended its life in Berlin in 1933. The teachers included Kandinsky, Klee, Moholy-Nagy and Marcel Breuer, and the archive contains a rich assortment of metalwork, pottery, architectural work, furniture and textiles.It is housed in the Tiergarten area of Berlin, in an odd, spiky white building, designed by the Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius. The Bauhaus style veered between careful craftsmanship and almost brutalist mass production, and even after seventy years, the energy crackles.

Top of the bill is a superb model of Mies van der Rohe's German Pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona Exposition. It is sleek, elegant, perfectly proportioned and way, way ahead of its time. An excellent English audio commentary explains the ideas behind the work, and there's also some welcome information about the all-women Bauhaus weaving workshops, whose talented director, Gunta Stolzl, experimented boldly with cellophane, rayon and even steel. This "women's work" was undervalued for years, and it's good to see it here.

The Bauhaus originated in what became East Germany - the DDR - which became isolated from the rest of the world, so the archive was deliberately situated in what used to be the capitalist enclave of West Berlin. Between 1946-1989, West Berlin was cut off by the Berlin Wall, and was a lonely speck of freedom amid the hundreds of surrounding kilometres of the DDR. The DDR Museum, near Alexanderplatz, gives a fascinating insight into that now-vanished Communist regime.

There are no precious objects here - "touch and feel" is emphasised, with cupboards full of polyester clothing to be examined and DDR programmes to be watched in a mock-up "Plattenbau" flat. There's even a virtual ride through a concrete estate in a genuine Trabi car. Only by actually sitting in one is it possible to realise how awful they were. The museum explains the main ideas behind the DDR, so much better in theory than in practice. Those giant estates were ugly, but they totally abolished housing shortages. Education was rigorous, and children did not sit around idly after school - they joined the Young Pioneers. A little like Hitler Youth without the Hitler, the YP offered companionship and fun and was fondly remembered by many. Fitness and health were important, as shown by a slightly disconcerting section on Communist-style nudism. "Lives of Others" it's not. The horrors of the police state are not downplayed, but many visitors seem to spend most of their visit exclaiming in delight over old favourites from their DDR childhoods - a valid, if unexpected, response. According to the tourist office, many

Berlin visitors hope to see Hitler's bunker, but it is flooded and inaccessible. A thought-provoking alternative is the powerful open air museum "Topography of Terror". It's in Niederkirchnstrasse, where the SS headquarters were. In this bleak field, alongside the only bit of the wall remaining in the city centre, many fine photographs are assembled. With commentaries in German and English, they trace the rise and aftermath of Nazism. Sensationalism is avoided, but some images, like those of grinning stormtroopers insulting Jews or posing before heaps of dead bodies, convey only too well how vile it all was. The exhibition also celebrates heroic individuals who suffered on the site, and it does not flinch from describing the shameful post-war period when many of the worst criminals escaped scot-free.

A museum building is now planned, but this huge open-air display seems more immediate and real than any indoor museum. In fact Berlin has never been a place to go for a quiet settled life. The 100-year-old Markisches Museum tells the city's history, and a tough history it has been at times. The museum is a fine old building in the Mitte area, currently undergoing renovation. Its highlights include various huge and splendid models of Berlin, a gripping photographic archive, superb oil paintings of Berlin's industrial past and a collection of treasures of the craft guilds. A particularly striking exhibit is a group of three painted iron bears of 1562.

The bear is Berlin's symbol, and these three, snarling fiercely, convey the message that Berlin will fight on, no matter what befalls it. Modern Berlin is by no means free of problems - particularly financial ones - but if its present amazing energy and liveliness are anything to go by, then those bears are spot on.

Tourist information about Berlin is available at:
Contact the German National Tourist Office in the UK on 020-7317 0908.
Bauhaus Archive, Klingelhofer Strasse 14, www.bauhaus.de.
DDR Museum, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 1, www.ddr-museum.de.
Topography of Terror, Niederkirchnerstrasse 8, www.topographie.de.
Markisches Museum, Am Kosllnischen Park 5.

Berlin building boom continues according to The Wall Street Journal

A Building Downturn? Not in Berlin

Developers Move Ahead With Projects in Areas Opened by Wall's Fall

By WILLIAM BOSTON for the Wall Street Journal

June 11, 2008

BERLIN -- Even as the economic outlook darkens in Europe, developers here are trying to further plans for the latest stage in the massive series of developments to rebuild Germany's capital after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Developers still get giddy when they recall those heady days after Germany unified and Potsdamer Platz, for decades buried under a minefield in the no-man's land that divided East and West, was transformed into a bustling commercial center. But that megaproject seems small compared with the ambitious development the city is hoping to kick off now. By the beginning of 2009, the first building cranes are expected to go up as development of the wasteland around Berlin's new central train station gets under way in earnest.

"This is about the creation of a new city district with the development of huge plots that will be much larger than Potsdamer Platz," says Holger Lippmann, managing director of the Liegenschaftsfonds Berlin, the state-government agency charged with selling property owned by the city.



The development includes three distinct multiuse projects with some 9.8 million square feet of new stores, office buildings and apartments. First in line is Humboldthafen and the area around Humboldt Harbor called the Spreebogen on the Spree River, which flows past the new train station and near the Chancellery and the Reichstag. Next will be two areas north of the train station, the Lehrter Stadtquartier and the Heidestrasse development.

The development is moving forward even as other large projects around the world are stalled by the credit crisis. This is especially true in the U.S., where a lack of financing has forced developers to slow or stop major projects in New York, Dallas, Phoenix and Seattle.

In Europe, some high-profile projects are still making headway. In Paris, a 9.1 million-square-foot development at the site of the former Renault factories in Boulogne-Billancourt is fully financed and about one-third complete, says Michael Topham, chief executive of Hines Europe, the developer. Hines also is taking the lead on another major project, the Porta Nuova, or new gate, in Milan. Planned are 3.9 million square feet of offices, apartments, retail space and a park -- all crisscrossed by bicycle paths -- on fallow industrial land near the Garibaldi train station.
In London, meanwhile, the "Shard of Glass" tower, planned to be completed by the end of 2011, is moving ahead after a change of investors. A British developer, Sellar Property Group, is still overseeing construction, but in January Qatari investment bank QInvest, Qatar National Bank, Qatari Islamic Bank and Barwa bought out CLS Holdings and the Halabi family trust. The Qatari investors have pledged to back the lion's share of the estimated £2 billion ($4 billion) in building costs.

Berlin officials are optimistic about the Humboldt Harbor project because the first plot for development was sold in April to a group of Spanish investors. Details of the deal and the identity of the buyer are being withheld until the deal gets approval from the city of Berlin, which is expected by July.


Berlin completed the new Potsdamer Platz, featuring the SONY Center with its futuristic glass dome, the first of several planned city-wide development projects.

The site is to include restaurants and a hotel, which may prove to be a tricky endeavor, because Berlin has seen a number of hotels built in recent years and its room rates are less than those in such major cities as London and Paris. But Mr. Lippmann says that after the Berlin Wall fell, undeveloped inner-city spaces became available that simply don't exist in cities such as Paris, London, Rome and New York. "In commercial and office property, you usually don't start building until you've rented 70% of the space," Mr. Lippmann says. "But it's different here. The location is so exceptional, you know you'll find tenants in the hotels and offices."

Germany's major commercial-property markets continue to be robust, showing falling vacancy rates and rising rents for top-class office space, according to CB Richard Ellis, a real-estate-services group. While London prime rents fell more than 7% in this year's first quarter, there was no change in Germany's major markets, the firm says.

Before World War II, Humboldthafen was Berlin's oldest and largest inner-city harbor, where ships would dock and unload raw materials. The area was flattened by Allied bombing during the war and then left as a wasteland for decades after Berlin was divided. After German unification in 1990, the area near the Reichstag to the south of the Spreebogen became the new government district. In 2006, a new central station opened on the north shore at the site of the destroyed Lehrter Station, and plans were made to develop the harbor and the empty land north of the station.

Mr. Lippmann says a Europe-wide tender for bids for a second plot will begin in late June. He expects to conclude sales of the remaining Humboldthafen properties by early next year.
Development of the Lehrter Stadtquartier and the Heidestrasse isn't expected to get under way in earnest until 2010 or 2011, says Wilhelm Brandt, a spokesman for Vivico Real Estate. The major construction will include a hotel and convention center and an office tower. Mr. Brandt says Vivico is negotiating with developers for the hotel and convention center. "We expect to conclude those talks within the next few months," he said.

source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121314363747162745.html

Goldman Sachs to Buy 93,000 Apartments in Germany

June 11 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed to buy 93,000 apartments from the German state of North Rhine- Westphalia, two people with knowledge of the transaction said, to take advantage of rising rents.

Goldman's Whitehall real-estate funds will pay 3.5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) for LEG GmbH, the owner of the homes, the Financial Times Deutschland reported today. The newspaper cited unidentified lawmakers in Dusseldorf, where LEG is based.

The auction of apartments in cities such as Cologne, Essen and Bonn attracted 13 bidders, including British financier Guy Hands. In 2004, Goldman and the Cerberus investment fund purchased homes in Berlin for 2 billion euros including debt.

The German market offers investors ``stable returns with little risk,'' said Lars Dierkes, an analyst at research firm Investment Property Databank. ``As long as rents increase faster than interest on loans, we'll see bidders queue up for these properties.''

Monika Schaller, a spokeswoman for Goldman in Germany, declined to comment on the transaction.

North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, is striving to balance its budget by raising money from asset sales. The state is the largest single shareholder in WestLB AG and in March agreed to bail out the Dusseldorf-based bank by covering as much as 5 billion euros in potential losses.

LEG, whose full name is Landesentwicklungsgesellschaft Nordrhein-Westfalen GmbH, earned 16.8 million euros in 2006 while revenue amounted to 553 million euros. The company has debt of about 2.4 billion euros, Die Welt reported May 16.

Higher Returns

Investments in German residential properties returned 6 percent last year, according to IPD.

That was more than the overall return of 4.5 percent for stores, offices and homes in the country.

Goldman and Arcandor AG set up a company in 2006 to buy most of the German retailer's properties. Goldman's Whitehall funds owned 51 percent of the venture and the deal was valued at about 4.5 billion euros, Arcandor, then known as KarstadtQuelle AG, said at the time.

Last year, the Whitehall funds bought 2.45 billion euros of German property assets from Degi Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Immobilienfonds mbH, a real-estate investment company then owned by Allianz SE, Europe's biggest insurer.

North Rhine-Westphalia owns about 68 percent of LEG directly and another 22 percent through a bank. The state government is due to hold a briefing about the transaction at 2 p.m. in Dusseldorf.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nadja Brandt in Los Angeles at nbrandt@bloomberg.net; Brian Parkin in Berlin at bparkin@bloomberg.net.

Montag, 9. Juni 2008

Wide open spaces, high in Berlin

For most of the past century - and even today - Berlin was a city struggling to rebuild itself and, later, a symbol of Cold War divisions. Now, however, the city is becoming known for something else entirely: sprawling lofts and apartments.

With an abundance of unused factories and warehouses and a wealth of Jugendstil, or Art Nouveau, houses available for renovation, Berlin developers are finding new ways to inject style into the city's high-end housing market.

"In the last two years, the luxury housing market has really taken off in the center of Berlin, as more and more people decide that they would rather live in the heart of the city than on the outskirts," said Sascha Hettrich, a managing partner of the real estate advisory agency King Sturge, based in Berlin.

"But there is a shortage of homes that are larger than 120 square meters, so loft spaces and converted apartments in houses built between 1880 and 1930 are becoming extremely sought-after," he said.

In particular, districts like Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Dahlem and Zehlendorf in the western part of the city are popular because of their good transport links, fashionable boutiques and wide range of restaurants.

Over on the eastern side, Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg are being gentrified, with a lot of both residential and commercial real estate construction under way, said Roy Frydling, the Berlin-based managing director of the real estate advisory firm Savills in Germany.

Berlin is following in the footsteps of cities like London and Chicago, where loft living has long been popular. Now, warehouses and factories, some of them along the Havel and Spree rivers, are being converted into spacious lofts of 150 square meters to 250 square meters, or 1,615 square feet to 2,690 square feet, Hettrich said.

Among the conversions already under way is a range of luxury apartments and lofts in Prenzlauer Berg, Mitte and Charlottenburg by 213, the Berlin-based architectural firm and developer. The company has created three lofts on one floor of a 1960s-era apartment building in Prenzlauer Berg, said Markus Schell, 213's managing director.

One loft has just been completed and the remaining two will be finished in July, although all three already have been sold. They range from 140 square meters to 200 square meters, with price tags of €355,000 to €715,000, or $560,000 to $1.12 million, depending on factors like size and finishings, he said.

For Paul Landymore, a former British bus company owner who is moving in, his new loft "ticked all the right boxes" for him and his German partner, who relocated from Exeter, in Devon. "We wanted a top-floor apartment so that we wouldn't have noise from above, and being able to put our own mark on it was a real bonus. We wanted to be in Prenzlauer Berg, because it's an area we really like because of the mix of people, both German and foreign, as well as the bars and cafes," Landymore said. "For us, this is a home, a fresh start - it's not an investment."
In Charlottenburg, 213 is working on similar lofts. Next year, the developer also intends to start renovating an old factory in Prenzlauer Berg, which will be converted into about eight lofts, all with "hanging gardens," Schell said.

The lofts, which will average about 250 square meters, are likely to cost between €600,000 and €800,000, he added.

One of the largest conversions in the city has been the Paul-Lincke-Höfe project, designed by the Berlin-based architectural firm Langhof and developed by Realprojekt Bau-und-Boden.

For the project, an old factory in Kreuzberg, right in the heart of the city, has been converted into 116 lofts ranging from 80 square meters to 250 square meters. The lofts are grouped around five "Gardens of Paradise," which were inspired by the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, according to Martha Schwartz, the American artist and landscape architect who designed them.

Over in Zehlendorf, Vohl Immobilien Partner is converting an old electronics factory into loft spaces ranging from 66 square meters to 400 square meters, all with ceilings 4 meters, or 13 feet, high. They cost between €180,000 and €1.1 million, without kitchen fittings. Many of the lofts have been sold.

Loft spaces, excluding fittings, usually sell for €1,800 to €2,800 a square meter, which can increase to as much as €4,500 for finished warehouses, said Hettrich of King Sturge.
Apartments in older houses, including Art Nouveau properties, typically sell for €3,000 to €4,000 a square meter, or about €400,000, and prices have risen about 10 percent in the past five years, said Frydling of Savills. However, prices in the city are not likely to grow by more than 5 percent this year and could stay flat, according to Savills.
Such prices are low in comparison with those in other German cities: In Frankfurt, a luxury apartment in a good location typically sells for about €5,000 a square meter; in Munich, about €10,000 a square meter.

Demand for luxury homes in Berlin has increased since the German Parliament relocated to Berlin from Bonn in 1999, according to Thomas Scharf, chief executive of the Berlin-based real estate firm Renaissance Real: "We have seen a massive increase in the number of people looking for luxury homes here. In the past four years, we have had between 100 and 150 requests a month for such properties, up from 15 to 20 a month previously."

In addition to domestic demand, there is a lot of interest being shown by celebrities, Russians and Middle Easterners, who are typically willing to pay very high prices, Scharf said.

However, unlike the share in other world capitals like London and New York, the luxury housing sector in Berlin accounts for only about 4 percent of the total market, including rentals.

Because of local government caps on rentals in Berlin, which keeps many rents low, and because of little capital growth, there is little incentive for people to get on the housing ladder, said Andrew Groom, head of the German valuation advisory department at Jones Lang LaSalle real estate in Frankfurt.

As a result, just 13 percent of all residents in the western part of the city own their own homes, compared with 45 percent in the state of Hessen, where Frankfurt is located, and 49 percent in the Bavarian capital of Munich, according to BulwienGesa, the German real estate consultancy.




Published: May 29, 2008

Paul-Linke-Höfe - Berlin loft project



Die Paul-Lincke-Höfe befinden sich in Berlin Kreuzberg. Eine ehemalige Telegraphenfabrik wurde umgebaut, aufgestockt und einer neuen Nutzung zugeführt. Es entstanden 116 Lofteinheiten mit Größen von 80 bis 250 qm, die sich um fünf "Paradiesische Gärten" gruppieren. Die neuen Hofgärten werden von der amerikanischen Landschaftsarchitektin Martha Schwartz nach Motiven aus Grimms Märchen gestaltet. Gemeinsam mit den modernen und großzügigen Wohn- und Arbeitsräumen prägen sie die Gesamtatmosphäre der Immobilie und verleihen den Paul-Lincke-Höfen eine ganz eigene Identität. Charakteristisch für die neuen Paul-Lincke-Höfe sind die tonnenförmigen Dächer mit Gauben, die aus dem zweigeschossigen Dach herausragen und die nahezu raumhohen Fenster, welche die Großzügigkeit der Wohnungen unterstreichen. Ziel des Entwurfes war es, einen faszinierenden innerstädtischen Ort zu kreieren, der den wachsenden Wunsch nach individuellem Lebensraum erfüllt und die Menschen zum Wohlfühlen verführen kann.

Quelle: LANGHOF®
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Sonntag, 8. Juni 2008

Buying Property in Berlin - from the Sunday Times

Almost 20 years after reunification, Berlin’s bohemian lifestyle is attracting overseas buyers. Just don’t expect a quick profit

Berlin is a new city; the newest I have ever seen,” Mark Twain remarked in 1891. He might well say the same today. Nearly two decades after reunification, the German capital’s landscape continues to be redrawn. The division between east and west that once defined the city is now barely noticeable - just a few desultory chunks of the Wall remain - and the city is thriving as a hotbed of modern, experimental architecture. With a unique combination of cold-war history and a reputation for hedonism, Berlin is bang on the zeitgeist: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie and Sam Riley are among those who have been seduced into buying homes in and around the city.

It is not only celebrities who are moving in. New luxury redevelopments of the city’s atmospheric former factories and 1960s apartment buildings - coupled with some of the lowest property prices in Europe - are starting to draw British and Irish buyers. Factor in Berlin’s reputation as a leafy, bohemian artistic centre in the midst of a cultural rebirth and the city’s estate agents and developers have a new client: the “lifestyle buyer”.

“We’ve sold to more than 100 British buyers in the past two years,” says Darrell Smith, managing director of Buy Berlin, a British company selling property in the city. “Although the euro/pound exchange rate hasn’t helped recently, there are lots more people looking for this kind of lifestyle apartment. Low-cost airlines mean they can use them as weekenders; buyers just want to be sure they are no more than 15 minutes from the centre of town.”

Last year, north Londoner Hari Hundle, 31, the vice-president of a private bank in the City, and his girlfriend, Simone Scheuer, 29, a portfolio manager, decided to spend £390,000 at one such luxury development, buying a three-bedroom loft apartment in the Fehrbelliner, a former lift factory on the border between Mitte - the historic centre of the city - and the trendy, sought-after district of Prenzlauer Berg, to the east.

“We went to Berlin on holiday a few years ago and fell in love with the place,” Hundle says. “A place of this quality, with its huge ceilings, open-plan living areas and warehouse feel, plus a rooftop terrace, would cost £5m in London.

“Berlin is so much funkier than London, and it has an originality that most European cities don’t have any more,” he says. “It reminds me a lot of New York’s Lower East Side 10 years ago. We have been buying art seriously since we started coming here.” Hundle is no doubt helping to support the burgeoning community of New York artists in Berlin, driven from Manhattan in a huge exodus by unaffordable property prices.

By the time Fehrbelliner is completed, in spring 2010, it will contain 200 loft apartments, penthouses and maisonettes, many with roof terraces from which the cityscape can be viewed. There will be a spa and leisure complex on site, as well as upmarket boutiques and galleries. Smith, who is selling homes there for between £160,000 and £1.96m, says that a quarter of the buyers are British. Hundle’s neighbours will include brokers, media gurus and celebrities, among them the Canadian rocker Bryan Adams.

Smith says that the flat could be let out for up to £2,000 per month on a short-term let - quite different to the long-term tenancy arrangements that have made Berlin, a city where less than 15% of the population owns property, attractive to investors looking for guaranteed letting. “Because buyers want to use their flats over weekends and holidays, they are increasingly looking for short-term let arrangements,” he says.

Although the Fehrbelliner is one of the most expensive developments in the city, Prenzlauer Berg’s tall, graceful stucco-fronted Altbauten (old buildings), dating from the 1890s, its organic cafes, vintage clothes shops and secondhand bookshops all contribute to the area’s boho charm. It is also popular with yummy mummies, giving it a reputation as Germany’s “nappy valley”.

But it is just one of many areas rapidly gaining a reputation for idyllic inner-city living.Like London, Berlin is a sprawling metropolis made up of a collection of village-like communities, with park- and lake-dotted districts spread out over 340 square miles. These days, interest is concentrated on areas that lay in the former Communist east when the wall went up in August 1961 - not just Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg, but the former working-class suburb of Friedrichshain, with its Soviet-style architecture and underground nightclubs. Property prices start at about £1,300 per square metre, with one-bedroom flats costing as little as £50,000.

Others are looking to areas in the former west - such as Kreuzberg, which lay on the allies’ side of the wall, but has found itself in the heart of the reunited city. The Viktoria Park Residence, a six-storey 19th-century townhouse, is being totally refurbished: 32 flats, maisonettes and lofts are being created, many with high ceilings, elaborate cornices, original, intricately laid oak flooring and Kachelöfen, the tall, tiled ovens traditionally used for heating.

Kreuzberg is now well known for its multicultural society and cafe culture, as well as being the site of Designmai, a cutting-edge annual design exhibition. At Viktoria Park, a 50-square-metre one-bedder costs £69,000, with prices rising to £295,000. Many units will have balconies overlooking the park itself - a popular weekend leisure spot for Berliners, with its hillside views and cascading fountains. They are for sale with Norenva, a Berlin-based agency.

A very different feel is offered by Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf, which lie further to the west, beyond the Tiergarten, the large park in the middle of the city. With their smart 19th-century Wilhelmine townhouses and wide, shop-lined boulevards, they have always been popular areas for the moneyed middle classes. As a result, homes in upmarket developments here can be more expensive: a 250-square-metre family flat can cost £600,000.

Whether former east or west, almost all the properties on offer are in refurbished buildings. Despite the construction of large numbers of offices and public buildings, which have transformed central Berlin over the past two decades, there have been few residential new-builds - largely because property prices have been so low, it has simply not been worth it. Potential buyers seem happy with that. “Most people prefer to buy something old, refurbished and with character,” says Sandra Rex, the managing director of Norenva.

So, once you’ve got the kudos of a Berlin pad, you’ll need to get the right lifestyle. And, in this city, whatever you’re into isn’t hard to find. If it’s high culture you want, leave behind the trendier areas, where many of the old tenement blocks are still rabbit warrens of artists’ studios, and hang out in Mitte. Here, Museum Island, on the Spree, has a collection of world-class museums and galleries that are undergoing a huge restoration, to be completed in 2015. At the Reichstag, Norman Foster’s glass cupola caps a building groaning under the weight of its history. Visit Daniel Libeskind’s famous zigzag Jewish Museum, too, for contemporary architecture at its most extreme - and symbolic.

And after dark? If your idea of Berlin nightlife stops at cabaret-style performances, think again. The city has three opera houses, as well as scores of theatres and cinemas. British media luvvies have given Berlin its seal of approval, with a branch of Soho House scheduled to open soon. The electropop and underground dance scene is thriving, too: iconic clubs such as the Panorama Bar, in Friedrichshain, and Weekend, on Alexanderplatz, still pack in the ravers. Ross Godfrey, founder member of the British trip-hop outfit Morcheeba, has just invested in a flat in town. “Visitors find that Berlin is a new town,” Smith says. “It is full of young people who have no hang-ups from the past.”

Wyndham Wallace, 36, a writer and music manager, moved to Berlin four years ago. He let out his two-bedroom flat in Brixton, south London, preferring to rent an 85-square-metre apartment in south Berlin, and is now looking to buy. With the cost of the living half that in London, Wallace has decided to make the German capital his permanent adopted home town.

“I could really make my finances stretch in Berlin,” says Wallace, who is writing a biography of the late country-music star Lee Hazlewood. “I was attracted by the quiet and the space - and, when people smile at you here, they really mean it.” He plans to sell up in Britain and spend up to £160,000 on a flat in Kreuzberg.

Wallace’s motivation to buy has been sheer love of the city. But is it a good bet for investors? After all, the fact that properties in Berlin are cheaper than their equivalents in Prague or Warsaw does not automatically mean they will rise any time soon; indeed, some British investors who have bought in recent years, hoping to make a killing, have been disappointed.

“House prices in Berlin have fallen by 15% since 1995,” says Tobias Just, a property analyst at Deutsche Bank. “They have stabilised in the past three years, but are moving slowly - about 1.5% a year since 2005. We expect prices to continue to rise, but not at a breathtaking pace. It’s a low-growth city.” Purchase costs, too, are prohibitive, adding up to 11% to the sale price.

Bill Blevins, an international investment and tax adviser, agrees with Just. “Berlin is still very much an emerging market,” he says. “But I’d say that you could make yourself a lot of money, in 10 years’ time, by investing there.”

Wallace, too, has words of caution. “Get to know the city before buying here,” he says. “People come in pursuit of this famous bohemian factor, thinking it is going to be a kind of debauched Valhalla. Actually, Berlin is very peaceful. It’s a big city with rustic charm.”

by Emma Wells

Where to buy in Berlin:

Mitte: With high-end luxury loft and flat developments, the heart of the city has been rapidly gentrified.

Prenzlauer Berg: In the former east, the city's "nappy valley" is full of converted factories and 19th-century houses.

Friedrichshain: The centre of the city's alternative scene is popular with families and students.

Kreuzberg: This trendy multicultural distrtict just south of the centre has cocktail bars, restaurants and refurbished factories, and Altbauten. This 19th-century monument in Kreuzberg - a former hospital set in parkland - has recently been converted.

Zehlendorf: An exclusive residential area of West Berlin full of classical-style mansions and scenic riverside landscapes.

Wilmersdorf: With its smart boutiques, this western district is popular with professionals.

Charlottenburg: A long-established residential area to the west of the centre with upmarket living and great shopping.

source: from the Sunday Times, June 8th, 2008