According to Thomas Daily and AFIRE Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate Germany is (together with switzerland) in second place. Details here.
A 16.000m² loft space called “Kaufhaus für Kreative” in the center of “turkish” Kreuzberg is another weak signal that Kreuzberg is up and coming among developers and others. Especially the region close to river spree seems to be one new focus for Berlin developers. Just a question of time when the first residential development will pop up there.
This TV Report from Berlin based RBB (state owned) shows the new trend towards new buildings in Prenzlauerberg.
Click here to open the video (in German).
IVG Development announced yesterday the start of a new development close to Hackescher Markt and the Museums Island in the city center of Berlin (East). The project called “Hackesches Quartier” with rental floor space of 36,600 square meters of whom 80 per cent has been marketed before the start of the construction. Main renter of the 24.850 m² office space are Berlin based Gas supplier GASAG Berliner Gaswerke AG (8.500 m²), and Berlin based advertising and creative agency Scholz & Friends AG (8.000 m²). Buyer of the 145 Serviced Apartments with luxury standard (7.680 m²) is Hotel operator Adina Europe Ltd., a leading operator of serviced apartments in Europe and Australia all ready serving the Berlin market.
According to the March Issue 2007 of “BERLIN ESTATE NEWS” of Liegenschaftsfond:
“2006 was a boom year for the Berlin real estate market. The appeal of Berlin as a
real estate location will continue through 2007. In comparison to other major European
cities, property prices are still pretty low. In a comparison of German cities too,
Berlin has the lowest rents by far.”
Read the whole report about Berlin Real Estate trends according to Liegenschaftsfond.
IBB (Investitions Bank Berlin, a state owned bank) issued this report about housing and real estate trends in Berlin in 2006. Make sure you compare it with the 2005 Housing Report to get the trends.
According to German Income Tax Law (§ 7i EStG) Investments in the restoration of a heritage building are subject to faster than usally possible tax write offs.
The same applies for restoration of buildings in redevelopment areas [German Income Tax Law (§ 7 h EStG)].
Normal write offs are 2,5% per year for 50 years = 100%
The amount legible for write off is NOT the buying costs, nor the land, nor the buying side costs, BUT only the amount put into the restoration of the protected building after the sale.
Different write offs for different usage
Investments in buy-to-let property are handle little different than investments in properties for self usage:
Tax-write offs for buy-to-let investments
While renting the property the tax breaks are slightly different:
8 years with 9 % p. a. and the following 4 years with 7 % p. a. (§ 7 i EStG) = 100%
Write-offs for restoration in buildings for self usage
are 10 years with 9 % p. a. (§ 10 f EStG) = 90%
Because of this laws most heritage buildings are offered without restoration, and typically one signes a separate contract for the construction.
The start after the sale is very important to not loose the write off possibilities.
According to an article about East German property “Fast vergessene Perlen im Osten” from Heiko Metzger in Financial Times Deutschland (Print issue 03.01.2008) some local markets in East Germany are more than worth a look.
Take Jena e.g. the vacancy rate at 2.2% is lower than in most West German cities.
Potsdam e.g. has the highest rate of people working in the service industry troughout Germany, while in addition having the youngest population at all.
It seems that foreigners are the first who discoverd this opportunity. Especially West Germans tend not to invest in East German property. This is based on a couple of prejudices about “the East” as well as on experience at the end of the ninties when the mainly high-income-investors put their money, driven by a heavy tax-refunds into East German Building Developments.
A couple of investments were just spend based on the tax-refund while the builidng itself didn’t even had renters.
If Berlin is not only an investment vehicle for you but you enjoy the lifestyle of this city, this map with cool stuff (shops) of Berlin Mitte might be something for you:
The site:
i love cool stuff
Downolad the map (direct link to the PDF, it will open in your browser)