Annual Report 2010 - Muenchener Hypothekenbank eG

More differentiated development is expected to be seen in Europe. investors will probably continue to concentrate on high-quality office properties in top locations in the economi- cally strong metropolitan areas. in these cities, particularly in france and the uK, we also anticipate construction activity to rebound and even a further increase in prices in some cases. As a result, investors can be expected to shift their focus toward areas in the near vicinity of the top locations, as was already noted in the previous year. in the commercial property market in the uSA, the core markets of New York, Washington, dC, Boston, San francisco and Los Angeles will continue to stabilise, although a slight increase in rental prices can be expected. At the same time, the continuing uncertainty surrounding the overall economic conditions in the uSA could weaken this development or even reverse it. Currently, the “B” markets are not expected to see their situation stabilise. deveLopment of bUsiness at münchener hypothekenbank in 2011 we plan to remain on track for growth, which we returned to during the year under review based on our busi- ness and risk strategy. in this way we plan to strengthen Münchener hypothekenbank's sustained profitability and proceed, as always, with a high level of risk-consciousness. To achieve this we plan to grow gradually and organically in our core business areas. our focus will remain on private property financing. our strategic goal is to expand our market position, particularly in our Cooperative financial Network business with the volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken. We see great potential in our Cooperative financial Network business, since custom- ers strongly value the expertise and proximity of our partner banks. This can be seen from the growing market share held by the volksbanken and Raiffeisenbanken in private property financing over the last five years. our products help our part- ner banks increase customer loyalty and help them offer their customers the right financing solutions. We want to take advantage of this potential by further strength- ening the cooperation with our partner banks in the areas of sales, marketing and production, and particularly by optimis- ing the efficient handling of loan processing. We will also plan to further intensify our collaboration with broker sales groups, and anticipate that we will increase the placement volume in 2011 at a similar size as in the previous year. We will continue our partnership with the Swiss com- pany Postfinance in the area of private property financing. We do not anticipate that 2011 will see a repeat of the special items noted in 2010. in the commercial property financing business, we will again concentrate on top-tier mortgage-backed loans in 2011, with relatively moderate mortgage lending value ratios. The signifi- cant markets will be germany and in the strong economic regions in france and the uK. in principle, loans could also be made in the Benelux countries, Spain, Austria and Switzerland on a selective basis. Münchener hypothekenbank is striving to achieve consistent and risk-conscious growth for its portfolio of commercial property loans. on the one hand, our lending business with the public sector and banks is intended to produce earnings. on the other hand, we want to stay engaged in this segment to ensure that we remain a regular issuer of public Pfandbriefe. The overall conditions driving liquidity and refinancing planning are shaped by the capital needs of public sector budgets, and by regulatory requirements. in 2011, the Pfandbrief will need to assert its position as an attractive investment in the face of “We plan to remain on track for growth based on our business and risk strategy. We want to continue grow- ing in our core areas of business.”