Real Estate News Roundup: May 2021
Top Real Estate News Stories
Headlines in the German property industry in May included news of a giant merger, the passing of a law on the mobilization of building land, new climate protection requirements, and some exciting updates in the ZEE world.
Merger of Vonovia and Deutsche Wohnen announced
Third time's the charm: The third attempt of industry leader Vonovia to take over the second largest housing company in Germany, Deutsche Wohnen, was succesful. The two housing conglomerates, number one and number two in the whole country, respectively, are planning a friendly merger and are currently working on reaching an agreement. Once the two landlord giants merge, they will own more than 500,000 apartments.
Bundestag passes Building Land Moblisation Act
On May 7, the Bundestag passed a draft of a law that would make providing building land easier for local authorities. A breakthrough for residential construction in Germany, the building land mobilization law was submitted by the Federal Minister of the Interior for Building and Home Affairs Horst Seehofer. Seehofer stated, "If you want to build new apartments, you need building land. This is exactly where the building land mobilization law comes into play: The municipalities can now use vacant lots and fallow land more quickly and flexibly...The adoption by the Bundestag is a breakthrough for housing construction in Germany."*
*Source: Bundeminister des Innern, für Bau und Heimat
New climate protection requirements
Until now, only the tenant was responsbile for CO2 costs of heating energy. Last month the Union and the SPD agreed that landlords will pay half of the costs. This was decided as part of a "climate pact" which took place in May, and the ruling was followed by an emergency program aimed at implementing the climate goals. The pact states: "An important instrument for protecting the climate is the CO2 pricing that started at the beginning of the year. CO2 prices create incentives to invest in climate-friendly technologies. At the same time, households with small and medium incomes in particular must not be overloaded.” It goes on to say: “ 50 percent of the costs of the national CO2 price are borne by the landlords.”*
*Source: Handelsblatt
Property prices in Berlin and Leipzig continue to rise
Jochen Möbert, an expert at Deutsche Bank, predicts a turnaround to real estate prices by 2024. However, when it comes to Berlin, Möbert expects the boom to continue due to the capital's transformation into a global metropolis. He also added that Leipzig is expected to have a particularly strong regional influx.
*Source: Spiegel.de
Ziegert EverEstate News
May was an exciting month for ZEE: The project developer STRABAG Real Estate (SRE) commissioned the real estate service provider ZIEGERT Knight Frank Frankfurt with the exclusive marketing of the rental share in the Frankfurt new building project KUHLiO in Frankfurt-Bockenheim. This project has 63 rental apartments, featuring sustainable building quality with an excellent micro-climate (GreenPass certificate in gold). In other news, the project Am Generalshof finally had its groundbreaking ceremony in Berlin-Köpenick. The construction work has begun on the project, which is a residential and commercial complex with a total of 83 apartments and an office building on an attractive waterfront location. Within the company, Stephanie Rosengarten was promoted to Chief Commercial Officer, and Franko Došen has been made Chief Sales Officer. Learn more about our team here. We also celebrated Diversity Day on May 18, celebrating our diverse background of 29 different nationalities, 26 languages, and 50% women in leadership.