Donnerstag, 29. Mai 2008

Why the Property Boom Bypassed Germany?

Construction taking place near Friedrichstrasse in 2007


In the last decade, home prices have risen across the Western world. So why has one European nation remained in a slump?



If you were to buy a house in Germany today, chances are you would pay the same amount as you might have 10 years ago. While house prices have shot up at staggering rates in many industrialized countries, Germany's housing market has been in the doldrums: An average detached house in Germany today costs virtually the same as it did a decade ago.

Not so in many other Western countries. There house prices have climbed to dizzying heights in the last 10 years and now threaten to — and in some countries have already — come crashing down. Right across the Western world, from Australia to Spain to the US, property prices more than doubled, but not in Germany. So why is Germany one of only a handful of economically developed countries to have completely missed out on the global property market boom?
And what does this mean for Germany's housing market in the future? For several years now some property experts have been touting Germany as the next hot housing market. Lured by remarkably low prices, property investors from the United Kingdom and Ireland have been snapping up real estate, especially in Berlin. But just because German property is relatively cheap, is it a safe bet that prices will rise?

Post-Reunification Exuberance

To understand why Germany's housing market has been in the doldrums for the last decade you have to go back to the early 1990s. In June 1991, eight months after reunification, a law designed to revive the economy of former East Germany, called the Fördergebietsgesetz, came into force. It offered incredibly generous tax incentives to property investors: Anyone who renovated or built real estate in the former East or Berlin, could write off the entire cost of the investment from their taxable income over 10 years.

Many wealthy West Germans leapt at this once-in-a-life-time opportunity, including some of Germany's biggest celebrities — such as TV presenters Thomas Gottschalk and Günther Jauch — to a former foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher to lawyers, dentists and managers. They all poured money into real estate, ranging from single flats to giant office complexes and housing estates.

Buoyed by the generous tax breaks, Germany's property market boomed in the early and middle 1990s. Between 1990 and 1998 — the year the tax incentives finally expired — the price of buy-to-let properties rose by around 70 percent. But the policy also helped to create a real estate bubble.

"Effectively, the tax incentives were so generous that people over-invested and that meant there was a glut of supply in Berlin, for example," Julian Power, director of London-based Berlin Capital Investments, which advises individuals and companies on investing in German real estate, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "People could renovate a property and they couldn't lose, as they could write off the whole cost against their tax bill. ... So people were doing it whether or not there was a demand for it."

Boom Turns to Bust

But in the rush to take advantage of the incredible tax break, many investors seemed to have forgotten to ask themselves whether there really was demand for the property they were building and renovating.

"After 1998 a sobering of the market set in," Jürgen Michael Schick, vice-president and spokesman of Germany's Real Estate Association (IVD), which represents property advisers, brokers, administrators and experts, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "The tax incentives no longer existed and in the 1990s investors had built over and above market demand."

As the housing market bubble burst, investors' exuberance turned to gloom. While house prices at the end of the 1990s were rising — and kept rising for the next decade — in many industrialized countries, Germany's housing market entered a prolonged slump. According to the Economist's global house price league table, the average value of homes doubled or even tripled in many countries between 1997 and 2007. In Britain house prices rose 210 percent, 190 percent in Spain, 168 percent in Australia and 104 percent in the US.

Germany, however, is one of only a handful of economically advanced countries not to experience a housing market boom in the last 10 years — prices there have stagnated. According to research by Germany's Real Estate Association, which was carried out in 150 German towns and cities, the price of a detached home in 2007 was virtually the same as 10 years earlier.

"What you had in the last one, two, three, four years in many other Western countries — the kind of property bubble in England, in Ireland, in Spain and in the US — that's, in principle, what we had in Germany in the 1990s," IVD's vice-president Schick said. "And because of this price correction, we were kind of immunized against the euphoria over house price rises that gripped many Western industrialized countries. That's why Germany was the real exception. ... Admittedly, on top of that came the economic difficulties around the millennium, which have only started to lessen in the last few years."

During the last 10 years Germany struggled with periods of sluggish economic growth — actually going into recession in 2001 — and record unemployment. The bursting of the Dot Com stock market bubble in 2000 also hit the country hard, sending the DAX-index, which tracks the Frankfurt stock exchange, crashing to the ground.

The stock market crash, however, did not encourage investors to pour money into real estate, which generally is seen as a safe bet. Too many investors, who had got their fingers burned when the housing market bubble burst at the end of the 1990s, were reluctant to take that gamble again.

According to Power, of Berlin Capital Investments, many Germans had lost a lot of money when the housing market crashed. He said: "Dentists from Munich and Hanover who renovated five buildings and then refinanced and refinanced and borrowed far too much money, suddenly found that the rents were not coming in as expected. A lot of those people went bankrupt."
Foreign Investors Eye a Bargain

Against the international trend, house prices in Germany actually fell between 1998 and around 2003. As homes have become increasingly unaffordable in many industrialized countries, more and more people have struggled to get a foot on the property ladder. In Germany, however, because the international housing market boom bypassed the country, property has become relatively cheap — which did not go unnoticed by large-scale property investors.

Since 2004, the year in which the German housing market hit rock bottom, institutional investors have snapped up hundreds of thousands of homes — some at bargain prices. The companies were aided in their acquisitions by the fact that German companies and the federal and regional states — which once owned much of Germany's housing stock — were trying to unload the homes from their books.

In 2004, for example, US private equity firm Fortress bought 82,000 Berlin apartments from the federal government's social security and pension agency in a €3.5 billion ($4.3 billion) deal. The same year Morgan Stanley acquired 48,000 properties from Thyssen Krupp, an industrial group, for €2.1 billion ($2.8 billion). The following year UK private equity firm Terra Firma bought 150,000 flats from German energy firm E.ON for €7 billion.

According to IVD's Schick, the German property market in 2004 must have looked like a "dream opportunity" for foreign investors. Prices had fallen, but were now stable. Property was relatively cheap compared to many other European countries. And home ownership, at 43 percent, was — and still is — one of the lowest in the industrialized world. On top of that, investors could buy property in Germany and get a yield of 7 percent when borrowing costs were only 4 percent. It was "sensational," Schick said.

Will Prices Rise in Germany?

As the German economy has recovered in the last few years, so too has the country's housing market. Since 2004 the price of buy-to-let flats in big cities has especially increased.
But even though some housing market experts predict price rises in the future, a property market boom in Germany is a long way off. According to the UK's Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' European Housing Review 2008, "a national house price upswing does not seem to be in the offing." It added: "However, in some places — like Hamburg, Nuremburg and Munich — local markets are much more active than the overall national pattern."

According to the review, Munich — which has the highest property prices in Germany — saw the highest price rises in the first half of 2007: a 6 percent increase. But, in other areas, especially east Germany, over-supply and weak local economies will keep the housing market flat or depressed, it said.

Schick, of the IVD, said house prices in Germany were not likely to rise in the near future, apart from in the big cities. "But even there," he said, "if you compare it to what has happened in the UK housing market, for example, were price went up by up to 200 percent, we're not talking about anything like that. We expect price rises of about three to four percent a year, which in the past were the monthly rises in the UK."

But some housing market experts are far more upbeat about the long-term prospects for the German property market. Power, who advises individuals and companies about buying real estate in Germany, said the current market presented a "very interesting opportunity." According to Power, Germany's very low home-ownership rate of 43 percent — 12 percent in Berlin — is likely to increase in the future. Rents, which have been kept artifically low by large public housing companies that once owned large swathes of housing, are likely to rise because state governments are forcing these companies to sell property in order to offload some of the states' debts, Power added. And as rents rise, more people will want to buy their own homes. On top of that, according to Power, too few new homes are being built to meet future demand.

"Basically, what that means over time is there's going to be a shortage of housing," Power said. "And if there's a shortage, then rents will have to rise. So, it becomes economical for people to invest in housing and so on and so on and that should mean rising rents and rising prices. But the point is that this is not going to happen tomorrow. It's going to take the next five years, probably, to follow through."

Mittwoch, 28. Mai 2008

Berlin Property Market Holds Huge Potential



Frank Roszak, a good-humoured Berlin butcher with a friendly smile, bought a spacious 10-room house in a pleasant suburb just west of the German capital for US$1.3 million about 16 years ago.
Two years ago he put the two-storey house with its leafy 1.5 hectare garden on the market for 500,000 euros (US$790,000).


It has been months since the last prospective buyer left - without making an offer.


His is not a tale of suddenly slumping house prices: It is the property market in Berlin. Other cities may be smarting from softening prices but Berlin, like many parts of Germany, never had a boom and has long been a veritable black hole for investors and a nightmare for homeowners.
Berlin is a metropolis with provincial prices,’ said Christine Schaefer, a property analyst at DZ Bank in Frankfurt.




Of course, there are some advantages to this: There is no turmoil from the broad market slump and talk at dinner parties rarely centres on real estate. Also, as real estate agents and some economists note, it gives the market huge potential.



‘Isn’t it better to buy into a market that’s come down for a decade than invest in a market where the party’s over?’ said Tobias Just, a real estate analyst at Deutsche Bank.



One problem: to realise that potential looks like taking a very long time. Hopes rise, but the market does not.



As real estate values in countries including Britain, Spain and the United States spiralled higher in the last decade, in Germany’s biggest city and the former Communist east prices for new houses and apartments fell by an average of one per cent per year. Prices for existing houses and apartments fell 2 per cent per year, according to banking data.



The situation is only marginally better in the more populous and prosperous west, where housing prices have risen by an annual average of less than one per cent in the last decade.
Many factors have weighed on German prices: relatively weak economic growth, a shrinking population, a traditional low rate of home ownership and cheap rent, generous pensions, risk-averse banks, high closing costs, and - completing the circle - the poor rate of return.



Noting prices in some cities such as Munich have risen steadily if unspectacularly, Mr Just said that the future for weak spots may not be as dim as the past - especially in Berlin where unemployment is gradually retreating, the oversupply of housing is slowly shrinking and economic growth is picking up.



At Lehman Brothers, the real estate team issued a report in March entitled Finally the comeback of Berlin? which - sceptically - highlighted an above-trend rate of rent increases of almost 10 per cent over the past four years in the city.



But the fundamental drivers for a market upturn are hard to find in Bohemian Berlin.
While cheap housing has attracted tens of thousands of students, overall the population has remained stagnant at 3.4 million. It has become the home of thousands of artists, actors, film-makers, musicians and even poets delighted to find such cheap places to live and work in.
Yet there is hardly any industry left - many big companies such as Siemens moved away after World War II and during the Cold War. The banking industry resettled in Frankfurt. Also, many government jobs stayed in Bonn.



The unemployment rate in Berlin is 15 per cent, nearly double the national average, and income levels are below average.


On top of that, just 13 per cent of Berliners own their own homes - well below an already low German rate of 40 per cent.


The high level of public-owned housing and accompanying low rents - and high vacancy rates - also depress property prices.


There was an ephemeral rise in the days immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, but even the federal government’s move back to Berlin in 1999 - creating some 20,000 jobs - failed to halt the price erosion.


Another false dawn has been foreign bargain-hunters.


Thousands have come - from Britain, Ireland and Scandinavia - to snap up homes at what appeared to be breathtakingly cheap prices. Some agents have taken English courses to cope with the undiminished demand from abroad.


Despite this, the prices are still breathtakingly cheap.



Source : Reuters - Business Times - 29 Apr 2008

Montag, 19. Mai 2008

Erstes Top-Grundstück am Humboldthafen verkauft

Zwei ausländische Investoren lieferten sich bis zuletzt einen Bieterwettlauf, jetzt ist das erste Baufeld am Humboldthafen, dem begehrten Gebiet neben dem Hauptbahnhof, verkauft. Das Fazit des Liegenschaftsfonds: "Berlin wird teurer“.
Am Schluss blieben zwei Interessenten übrig, die sich gegenseitig überboten. Jetzt ist das Rennen jedoch entschieden: Der Liegenschaftsfonds hat das erste Baufeld am Humboldthafen verkauft. „Der Vertrag ist beurkundet“, sagt Geschäftsführer Holger Lippmann, „der Aufsichtsrat und das Abgeordnetenhaus müssen noch zustimmen.“ Erst danach sei der Kauf perfekt. Lippmann rechnet jedoch nicht damit, dass der Vertrag gekippt werden könnte. 15 Bieter waren im Oktober in den Wettlauf um das 6000-Quadratmeter-Grundstück eingestiegen.
Am Ende waren die beiden Investoren aus dem europäischen Ausland unter sich, von denen sich einer durchsetzte.Über die Höhe des Kaufpreises sagt der Liegenschaftsfonds-Geschäftsführer nichts. Auch den Namen des Käufers behält er für sich. Die große Nachfrage nach den Grundstücken am Humboldthafen, vor den Türen des Hauptbahnhofs, zeige nach Lippmanns Angaben das nach wie vor große Interesse internationaler Investoren am Standort Berlin. „Die aktuelle Finanzkrise hat kaum Auswirkungen auf den Verkauf von Landesgrundstücken.“ Im Gegenteil: „Um besonders gefragte Immobilien erleben wir eine dramatische Konkurrenzsituation.“
Lippmanns Fazit: „Berlin wird teurer.“Eine Lage, die der Liegenschaftsfonds ausnutzt. Liegen zwei Bieter gleich auf, werden mit beiden Notartermine zur Vertragsunterzeichnung angesetzt – möglichst am selben Tag. Die Konkurrenten wissen, dass sie beide noch im Rennen sind und werden gebeten, bis zur letzten Sekunde – bevor der Notar das Siegel auf die Verträge setzt – ihre Gebote zu erhöhen. Erst nach der Beurkundung erfahren die beiden Bieter, wer den Zuschlag bekommt.„Diesen Bieterwettlauf bis zur letzten Sekunde gab es beim Verkauf der ehemaligen Charité-Frauenklinik am Spreeufer“, sagt Lippmann. Beim ersten Grundstück am Humboldthafen war dieses Verfahren allerdings nicht mehr nötig. „Am Schluss lag ein Gebot weit vor dem anderen“, so Lippmann, sodass der Doppeltermin beim Notar nicht nötig war.Die große Nachfrage spiegelt sich auch in den Summen wieder, die der Liegenschaftsfonds an den Finanzsenator abführt. Waren es im vergangenen Jahr über 230 Millionen Euro, sind es in den ersten vier Monaten dieses Jahres schon 100 Millionen Euro. Vor allem der Verkauf der Grundstücke am Humboldthafen verspricht, viel Geld in die Landeskasse zu spülen. Die Flächen werden nun nach und nach – gegen den Uhrzeigersinn – verkauft.
Im Juni soll das Bieterverfahren für das nächste Grundstückspaket an der Invalidenstraße beginnen.Im Laufe dieses Jahres will der Liegenschaftsfonds Grundstücke auch in anderen Innenstadtlagen anbieten. Zum Beispiel am wieder entstehenden Petriplatz an der Fischerinsel in Mitte. Dort, wo einst das Cöllnische Rathaus stand, werden durch den Rückbau der Breiten Straße die alten Parzellen wieder frei. Die Erlöse sollen zum Teil die Investitionen wieder einspielen, die Berlin für den Umbau der Straßen aufwendet.Dieses Prinzip soll auch bei der kompletten Neugestaltung des Molkenmarkts hinter dem Roten Rathaus gelten. Auch hier sollen die Straßen schmaler, alte Stadtgrundrisse wieder erkennbar werden. Lippmann rechnet mit einer kontinuierlichen Nachfrage: „Vor allem Wohnimmobilien sind begehrt.“ (Erschienen im gedruckten Tagesspiegel vom 19.05.2008)
Quelle: Tagespiegel

Der Tagespiegel Berlin: http://www.tagesspiegel.de/

Dienstag, 13. Mai 2008

Choriner Höfe - zentral und doch im Grünen wohnen

Anspruchsvolles Wohnen mitten in der Stadt und gleichzeitig in grüner Umgebung. Das Bauprojekt Choriner Höfe soll diesem Trend gerecht werden.


Mitte Anspruchsvolles Wohnen mitten in der Stadt und gleichzeitig in grüner Umgebung. Das Bauprojekt Choriner Höfe soll diesem Trend gerecht werden. Die Diamona und Har- nisch Berlin Development GmbH lässt neun Häuser auf dem Grundstück zwischen Choriner und Zehdenicker Straße bauen. Vier Architektenbüros sind beauftragt worden (www.chorinerhoefe.com). Wo heute noch eine Brache umzäunt ist, sollen 116 Wohnungen und sechs Gewerbeeinheiten entstehen. Eine Tiefgarage bietet künftig 87 Autos Platz. 240 Stellplätze sind für Fahrräder vorgesehen. Die Wohnfläche wird insgesamt 14 500 Quadratmeter betragen. "Die Palette reicht von der Single-Wohnung bis zum Einfamilienhaus", sagt Sprecherin Anne Wäschle von der Business Network Marketing- und Verlagsgesellschaft mbH.

Noch in diesem Jahr soll Baubeginn sein, in anderthalb bis zwei Jahren könnten die Choriner Höfe fertig sein. Die Investitionssumme liegt bei 41,5 Millionen Euro.

Es gebe bereits Interessenten für die Wohnungen, Verträge könnten ab Juni abgeschlossen werden, sagt Anne Wäschle. Das neue Nobelquartier soll sich nicht von der Umgebung abschotten. "Das Ensemble wird nach mehreren Seiten offen sein", sagt Wäschle. "Die Menschen, die einziehen, schätzen die offene Atmosphäre und das Flair im Kiez, sie wollen die bunte Mischung." Die Bauherren haben auch Kontakt zum benachbarten John-Lennon-Gymnasium aufgenommen. Die Jugendlichen sollen in die Gestaltung des Bauzauns und von Teilen der Giebelwände einbezogen werden. Auch ein Projekt mit einer benachbarten Kita ist geplant. Außerdem soll Ende Juni ein Infobüro an der Zehdenicker Straße 11 eingerichtet werden.

Das Unternehmen Diamona und Harnisch ist auch auf anderen Grundstücken in Berlin aktiv. In der Lychener Straße 53 in Prenzlauer Berg baut es ein Wohnensemble. In der Rückertstraße in Steglitz-Zehlendorf entsteht das Fichtenberg Carré.

Von Sabine Flatau

Samstag, 10. Mai 2008

Property in Germany: Time to sit pretty in Berlin

The German capital is courting buy-to-letters, says Emma Hartley

Nearly 18 years after the Berlin Wall came down and 17 since Berlin once again became the capital of Germany, the city's government is making a curious offer. It is inviting British and Irish investors to buy property from its housing associations, which will continue to administer the buy-to-lets for the new owners.

Buy in the heart of Germany, it says, and watch the value of your property rise as the city swells and prospers, while all the time collecting a steady rental income from sitting tenants who have been thoroughly vetted for reliability.

With post-unification subsidies dwindling, the city authorities have embarked on this sell-off in order to fill a hole in its municipal finances - but the Germans aren't buying. In Berlin, even more than elsewhere in Germany, a culture of renting exists: nationally, 80 per cent live in rented accommodation and in Berlin, where the per capita income is lower than average, it is 88 per cent. There is no stigma attached to rental and the tenancy laws weigh firmly in favour of tenants.

Ask yourself: when a three-bedroom apartment 10 minutes from the centre of Berlin costs only €325 a month (£240), where is the incentive to buy? Berlin has no housing shortage, but the population churn is enormous: 1.8million have left since 1990 (more than half the population) but 1.9million have arrived.

"All of these Berlin apartments were offered first for sale to the tenants," says Silke Lorenz, managing director of Das Stadt Konzept, the agency administering the sell-off. "But only around 20 per cent said yes. So at the end of last year we opened up the offer to the British and Irish because of their track record of investing abroad. We are selling those apartments that represent the best value - although this is not always obvious. Foreign investors tend to want somewhere beautiful and old, somewhere they would like to live. But Germans look for a low-maintenance apartment at a reasonable rent and where this is the case you will never have trouble finding tenants."

Being a landlord in Germany can be soul-destroying. I remember listening to a Munich doctor crying into his beer one afternoon, over a tenant who had turned out to be a prostitute, wouldn't pay her rent, but who knew her rights. Every month, she would pay just enough for the law to be on her side. Buying through Das Stadt Konzept comes with the option of a rent guarantee for a one-off payment of about €1,000 (£785).

Studio apartments in Marzahn - an area in the east of the city where Das Stadt Konzept is focusing its efforts - are on sale for about £25,000, and you could expect to receive about £100 a month in rent after management fees have been deducted: that represents a 4.8 per cent annual yield before tax. Similarly, a three-bedroom apartment is going for about £56,000 and will reap you about £250 a month, or a 5.35 per cent yield before tax. These municipal properties are considerably cheaper than their private-sector equivalents, and once the present tenant's contract expires you have the option of keeping it for your own use.

"When you buy, you get a sitting tenant and Germans move very infrequently," says Frau Lorenz. "They have to give three months' notice, which gives you ample time to find a new tenant, the housing association will pursue any legal problems you have with them on your behalf - which is covered by the administration fee - and your running costs will be minimal. There are no boilers to burst in these apartments because hot water is piped from a factory down the road and there are no lifts to break down." Helpfully, there is also a reciprocal tax agreement between the UK and Germany that means any investments there are taxed at the same rate as in the UK.

All too good to be true? Frau Lorenz claims that Berlin property will double in value in 10 years, but this was treated with scepticism by everyone to whom I mentioned it - including the German embassy in London, where the head of press has just invested in a property in Berlin.

"Why am I talking down a market into which I've just bought?" she asked herself out loud.

I was further told that Marzahn was a highly sought-after location with excellent schools, that it was attractive to middle-class Germans, and because everything I was shown had been refurbished and renovated, I had no reason to disbelieve it. But I have subsequently been told that I should have done.

Also, Das Stadt Kozept is only mandated to sell off a small proportion of the city's housing stock - 15 per cent - denying the opportunity to buy to most of its tenants and minimising the impact of privatisation on the market.

Unless you are a fluent German speaker with plenty of time on your hands, you would be reliant, as an investor in these properties, on Das Stadt Konzept as a long-term, one-stop-shop for translation, sales administration, and information about updates to the law and changes to rent caps.

The present wisdom is that property in some parts of Berlin is a solid investment and Berlin estate agents generally anticipate something between 3 and 6 per cent appreciation in value each year. But is a boom imminent? It looks unlikely - if one were on the cards, Berlin's financial difficulties would, in any case, be solved by new arrivals and their taxes. This city has the lowest property prices in western Europe, so buying would be a cheap way to enter the market, and there is always the chance that something unexpected will happen to Germany's new capital. It wouldn't be the first time.

Long-term gain

Gary Phelan, 50, from Ballybofey in Co Donegal, is a former mining engineer who is now a "life coach".

"My wife Kathleen and I bought a one-bedroom apartment from Das Stadt Konzept for €46,000 (£36,100) after looking around, mainly at emerging markets," he says. "I have a fascination with East Berlin and the history of the Cold War, which is what attracted me to the idea of buying there. When we were shown around Marzahn, everything had recently been refurbished, rewired, replumbed and even re-roofed, plus it was already tenanted, which was ideal because I wouldn't have the hassle of trying to sort it out from Ireland.

"It's a very nice price - for what it takes to buy an apartment at home I could have bought half a street in Berlin. I believe it can only increase in value, but these things are a guess at the best of times; we're not in it for the short term or the quick turnaround.

"There was a claim in the literature that our investment would increase in value by 100 per cent in 10 years, but that's not why we bought it. By going there and seeing the public transport, the cleanliness, the shopping malls, the schools, you could tell it was a sound idea."

source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.jhtml?xml=/property/2008/05/10/pberlin110.xml

Dienstag, 6. Mai 2008

Steigbügel für ausländische Immobilien-Investoren in Berlin

Die Berliner Estama Real Estate Management GmbH hilft ausländischen Investoren bei der Wertsteigerung ihrer deutschen Immobilien.

Berlin, 6. Mai 2008 - Trotz der Immobilienkrise in den USA bescheinigen Experten dem deutschen Immobilienmarkt auf Grund der moderaten Preise weiterhin große Wachstumschancen. „Gerade für international agierende Investoren hat der weltweit viertgrößte Immobilienmarkt an seiner Attraktivität an nichts eingebüßt“, ist Geschäftsführer Thorsten Stoll (34), der „Estama Real Estate Management GmbH“ überzeugt. Die in Berlin ansässige Asset- und Propertymanagement Gesellschaft bewirtschaftet seit der Gründung im Oktober 2005 in erster Linie Shoppingcenter und Einzelhandelsimmobilien ausländischer Investoren. Darüber hinaus verwaltet und optimiert das junge Berliner Unternehmen Gewerbe- und Wohnimmobilien sowie Logistik- und Spezialimmobilien. „Als Spezialist auf dem deutschen Markt wollen wir den Wert der Immobilien unserer ausländischen Kunden in Deutschland nachhaltig steigern“, so Stoll weiter. Das Berliner Newcomer-Unternehmen operiert mit mordernsten Asset- und Propertymanagement-Methoden nach britischem Vorbild. Gemeint sind damit neben der Bewertung hiesiger Grundstücke und Häuser mitunter die Kostenkontrolle und - optimierung von Instandsetzungs- und Sanierungsmaßnahmen, das gesamte Finanz- und Rechnungswesen sowie die Optimierung diverser Kostenquellen. Darüber hinaus umfasst das Estama-Leistungs-Portfolio weitere Immobilien-Leistungen wie etwa Financial- und Projektmanagement oder die sogenannte Due Dilligence (Immobilienakquisitionen).

Allein in Deutschland verwaltet die Berliner Asset- und Propertymanagement Gesellschaft mittlerweile einen Immobilienbestand mit einem Investitionsvolumen von über einer Milliarde Euro – Tendenz steigend. Estama betreut inzwischen rund 160 Immobilien-Anlagen. Darunter: fünf Shoppingcenter, 30 Einzelhandelsparks sowie eine Vielzahl von Stadtteil- und Fachmarktzentren. Mehr als 1.400 Mietverhältnisse werden von dem Berliner Unternehmen professionell abgewickelt. Unter den Kunden des Berliner Unternehmens befinden sich renommierte Unternehmen wie Revcap Real Estate Venture Capital Partners LLP oder etwa die Londoner „Edinburgh House Estates Limited“, die Estama erst kürzlich mit der Betreuung von weiteren 29 deutschen Einzelhandelsimmobilien im Wert von 100 Millionen Euro beauftragt hat.Neben der erst kürzlich bezogenen Hauptniederlassung am Potsdamer Platz (Beisheim-Center) verfügt das zurzeit 25-köpfige Estama-Team noch über zwei weitere Standorte in Zwickau und Wuppertal. Die Ziele des jungen Unternehmens sind ehrgeizig: „Für das Jahr 2008 wollen wir das Estama-Portfoliovolumen um weitere 500 Millionen Euro steigern“, so Geschäftsführer Thorsten Stoll abschließend.ZS&P Agentur für Kommunikation Melanie J. HempelMarkgrafenstraße 12-1410969 Berlin Telefon +49 (0) 30 40 88 94-39 E-Mail: Estama Real Estate Management GmbHThorsten StollBeisheim Center am Potsdamer PlatzEbertstraße 210117 BerlinTelefon +49 (0) 30 23 63 128-0Estama ist eine deutsche Asset- und Propertymanagement Gesellschaft mit einem Management-volumen von € 1,3 Mrd. Estama wurde 2005 gegründet. Die Hauptgeschäftsstelle befindet sich in Berlin. Zweigstellen sind in Wuppertal und Zwickau angesiedelt. Derzeit werden 160 Objekte mit den Schwerpunkten Einzelhandel und Logistik von Estama gesteuert.

Montag, 5. Mai 2008

Eigentumswohnungen werden wieder teuer in Berlin

Von Dietmar Treiber


Der wirtschaftliche Aufschwung hat in Berlin auch die Preise für Eigentumswohnungen erfasst.

Der wirtschaftliche Aufschwung hat in Berlin auch die Preise für Eigentumswohnungen erfasst. Nach Jahren unterhalb von 1300 Euro pro Quadratmeter Wohnfläche sind die Durchschnittspreise bis Ende 2007 im 6,6 Prozent gestiegen - von 1276 Euro Ende 2006 auf jetzt 1360 Euro. In einzelnen Bezirken ging der Preistrend noch steiler nach oben, ergaben Recherchen der Berliner Morgenpost in der Kaufpreissammlung des "Gutachterausschuses für Grundstückswerte in Berlin".


Dabei haben vor allem östliche Bezirke die Nase vorn. Dass Pankow in der Preistabelle wieder vorn steht, war zu erwarten - wobei die meisten Verkäufe und höchsten Verkaufspreise immer in Prenzlauer Berg verzeichnet werden. Der Ruf von Familienfreundlichkeit, Szene-Touch und Kreativen-Kiez dürfte hier auch weiterhin preisbildend wirken. Im Jahresverlauf haben verkaufte Eigentumswohnungen des Bezirks von 1708 auf 1919 Euro/qm noch einmal um 12,4 Prozent zugelegt.


Deutlich mehr Steigerungspotenzial hat aber der Bezirk Mitte zu bieten, wo die Verkaufspreise in nur einem Jahr von 1255 auf 1626 Euro/qm zulegten - das sind satte 29,6 Prozent. Glatt vorbeigezogen ist die Mitte damit an Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, obwohl auch hier die Durchschnittspreise um 3,4 Prozent anzogen, von 1488 auf 1539 Euro/qm.
Auch Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf - vor 20 Jahren noch der Eigentumswohnungs-Topbezirk West-Berlins - kann da trotz 5,8 Prozent Preissteigerung (von 1352 auf 1431 Euro/qm) nur staunend hinterherschauen.


Ähnlich solide geht der Preis nach oben in Steglitz-Zehlendorf: von 1192 Euro/qm in 2006 auf 1265 Euro Ende des vergangenen Jahres. Damit hat das edlere Etagen-Wohnen im Südwesten das jüngere City-Eigentum des Bezirks Tempelhof-Schöneberg im Preis überholt: In Schöneberg oder Friedenau stiegen die Preise zuletzt nur um 2,4 Prozent, von 1213 auf 1242 Euro/qm.
Wenn gleichzeitig der in der Eigentumswohnungs-Szene bisher eher stiefmütterlich beachtete Südost-Bezirk Treptow-Köpenick einen 22-Prozent-Preissprung hinlegt, könnte man viele neu gebaute Objekte als Grund vermuten. Irrtum: Eher ältere Eigentumswohnungen aus den Jahrzehnten nach 1900 haben hier das größte Preisplus eingefahren. Im Schnitt kostet der Wohnungs-Quadratmeter dort jetzt 1181 Euro (2006: 967 Euro) - natürlich werden aber in den Wasserlagen des Bezirks ganz andere Preise gezahlt als bei Eigentumswohnungen im dritten Stock an einer Hauptverkehrsstraße.


Unter der Preisgrenze von 1000 Euro/qm fangen die Sorgen an: Für Spandauer, Reinickendorfer und Neuköllner Eigentumswohnungsbesitzer sind die Durchschnittspreise der Jahrtausendwende Lichtjahre entfernt. Wurden anno 2000 noch 1374 Euro pro Quadratmeter in Reinickendorf bezahlt, so lagen die von der Morgenpost-Immobilienredaktion Preise von Mitte 2005 bis Ende 2006 bei etwa 1000 Euro - um jetzt auf nur noch 916 Euro abzurutschen (minus 8,2 Prozent).


Noch mehr Minus verzeichnete Spandau: Um 12,1 Prozent gingen die Eigentumswohnungspreise im Jahr 2007 zurück - von 899 auf 790 Euro pro Quadratmeter Wohnfläche. Da traf es den Bezirk Neukölln mit minus 4,5 Prozent weniger heftig, der Durchschnitt fiel von 830 auf 793 Euro.


Die extrem geringen Kaufpreis-Werte aus Marzahn-Hellersdorf und extrem hohe aus Lichtenberg haben wir nicht verwertet, weil hier zu wenige Verkaufszahlen vorlagen.
Ähnlich wie es bezirkliche Favoriten gibt, haben Eigentumswohnungs-Käufer auch bestimmte Immobilien-Arten im Blick: Das Wohnen im Altbau, speziell in Häusern aus der Kaiserzeit, ist nach wie vor am gefragtesten: Für die Baujahre vor 1920 werden 154 Euro/qm gezahlt, für Häuser von vor 1900 sogar 1734 Euro. Über dem Berlin-Schnitt finden sich noch ETW-Anlagen mit Baujahr 1980 bis 2000 (1525 Euro/qm) und 1860 bis 1880 (13838 Euro). Weniger gefragt sind die Hausbaujahre 1920 bis 1940 (1186 Euro sowie die Jahre 1940 bis 1980 mit weniger als 1100 Euro/qm.


Die Kaufpreissammlung des Gutachterausschusses im Internet:


www.gutachterausschuss-berlin.de