Germany Property Investment News

German real estate increasingly attractive to investors

A recent study into real estate investors’ attitudes has shown Germany moving ahead of the UK and France in terms of popularity. ‘Property Investment in Europe 2007’ was released by Union Investment, and looked at the attitudes of a total of 161 real estate investors and institutional property investors in the UK, France and Germany, in an effort to rate the investment climates of these countries.

The study shows that Germany has moved up to 71.3 points, pulling the country ahead of the UK (65.4 points) and France (69.3) in the Property Climate Index. This is the first time Germany has been ahead of France and the UK since the launch of the index. Chairman of the Management Board of Union Investment Real Estate AG, Dr. Reinhard Kutscher, commented: “The positive trend over the past two years reflects the recovery of Germany’s property markets, which in common with the wider economy have proved very robust.”

The poll showed that investors view the German market as attractive, with 71% believing the country would be an important investment destination for the next year, up from 65% the previous year. Forty-four per cent of the investors in German real estate questioned stated that they intended to invest more in real estate and real estate investment products over the next year.

Interestingly, the study indicates that real estate investors in Europe consider return on investment to be as important, if not more important, than the safety of the investment. This may be a result of Europe’s economic climate breeding a sense of security among investors. Kutscher commented that this is a sign of the investment behaviour in continental Europe moving closer to that typically associated with the UK real estate market.