Munich, 27 February 2020 – The pace of growth on the seven largest German office markets slightly increased during the fourth quarter of 2019. The pbbIX real estate index rose from 0.67 to 0.83 points having declined slightly over the last few quarters. The rise in the index was mainly due to the fact that there were no further negative macroeconomic developments in the last quarter of 2019. Driven by domestic demand, the overall economic development was on a gentle upward path towards year end after a weaker development for most of the year.
In the final quarter of 2019, the letting market continued to show comparatively high letting volumes, decreasing vacancy rates and a continued rise in rents. These positive indicators, combined with low interest rates and a sense of optimism, determined the development on the investment market which was marked by extremely high investment levels in the fourth quarter.
The first few months in 2020 are likely to lag behind last year’s high investment activity. There will be a base effect, but this will not change the fact that the key indicators for the office property markets look good. However, regarding the macroeconomic outlook uncertainty remains – for example given a renewed escalation in trade disputes and a greater slowdown in growth in China as well as the impact of the Corona virus epidemic.
In the fourth quarter, Düsseldorf showed the strongest performance of the big 7 German office markets at 1.45 index points, followed by Frankfurt and Berlin at 0.96 and 0.94 index points respectively.
Notes to the editors:
The pbbIX index family comprises the composite index, as well as seven individual indices tracking the key German office property markets of Berlin, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt/Main, Hamburg, Munich and Stuttgart, including their respective catchment areas.
pbbIX describes the development of the office markets. The zero line corresponds to the long-term trend. If the index is above the zero line, the office market is better than the long-term average. From a value of 1.0 points, one speaks of a boom.
The indices, which pbb publishes in cooperation with vdp Research, provide investors and lenders with comprehensive information on the current performance of office properties in Germany.
pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank (www.pfandbriefbank.com) is a specialist lender for commercial real estate finance and public investment finance in Europe and the United States of America. pbb is a major issuer of Pfandbriefe, which makes it also an important player in the European covered bond markets overall. pbb is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Media Contacts:
Walter Allwicher, +49 89 2880-28787, walter.allwicher(at)pfandbriefbank.com