Geschäftsbericht 2015, englisch

17 management report market in many locations. The number of transactions completed for existing housing rose by 6.5 percent over the figure recorded in 2014. Commercial Property – Germany The German commercial property market had a record-setting year as more than € 55 billion was invested in commercial property in 2015, or about 40 percent more than in the previous year. About half of the transactions were made by foreign investors, who viewed Germany as a very interesting country to invest in due to the solid overall economic situation and the stable rental property market. Low interest rates were also a key factor driving capital investments in the commercial property market. Demand for single properties and property portfolios remained very clearly focused on the seven best property locations, which accounted for about 56 percent of the volume of transactions. However, sales outside of these major metropolitan areas also rose disproportionately. This development was spurred by the tight availability of properties in the most desirable locations and the fact that initial returns offered by commercial properties outside of the top office locations were relatively high as they had higher liquidity risks. However, when viewed on an overall basis, returns once again fell slightly. This development affected office proper- ties as well as retail and logistics properties, which had attracted increased investor interest in the previous year. Retail properties alone accounted for almost one-third of total transactions in 2015. “The German commercial property market had a record- setting year with low interest rates as a key factor driving capital investments in commercial property.” The rental market also posted very good results that significantly exceeded the expectations of market participants. The seven most important office locations generated office space sales of about 3.6 million square meters, or about 20 percent higher than in 2014. No excess capacities in the form of speculative office pro- jects were created on the supply side due to conservative financ- ing practices adopted by banks since the end of the finance and economic crisis. This had a favourable effect on the market as vacancy rates for office space in all of the major office locations was noticeably reduced. In total, the volume of vacant space fell again below 6 million square meters for the first time since 2002, which is equal to an average vacancy rate of 6.4 percent. Increased demand for office space not only led to shortages of space in prime locations, it also extended to office locations out- side of major centres. As a result, rents paid in top office loca- tions increased substantially with top rents rising by 3 percent and average rents by 4 percent. In contrast, the situation was slightly weaker when viewed on a nation-wide basis as the 2015 vdp Office Property Rent Index showed an increase of 0.6 per- cent. This figure reflected a somewhat weaker increase for all of Germany. Lower returns and rising rents combined to push prices for com- mercial properties higher again in 2015. The vdp Commercial Source: Ernst & Young Real Estate GmbH, January 2016 Development of commercial property transactions in Germany 2010 – 2015 Figures in ¤ billion 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 19.1 3.8 6 23 11 25 13.7 30.5 39.9 12.8 23.5 55.5 Commercial Residential (only portfolio) 201020112012201320142015 3.86

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