Winter in Berlin
€181 billion was invested in German residential property in 2018, of which €49 billion was spent on multi-family apartment buildings. €66 billion was paid for condominium apartments and €64 billion was spent on detached and two-family homes. According to Colliers, the single highest volume was in Berlin with €5.51 billion.
The Zug, Switzerland-based private equity group Corestate Capital has repaid a securitised loan of €121.5m to UK loan servicer Hatfield Philips nine months ahead of its due maturity after firstly repositioning, and then selling, the underlying portfolio.
In May 2010, Corestate bought a distressed portfolio with 2,200 commercial and residential units located across Berlin while taking over the existing loan, Corestate said. The firm then reduced the maintenance backlog through capital expenditure and asset management, reducing the vacancy rate by up to 60% in part of the portfolio. It sold the assets in four single transactions to different buyers within 24 months.
According to COO Thomas Landschreiber, “Our integrated investment and asset management platform is not only able to improve the performance of a portfolio but also makes use of our various sales channels to realise the created value. This enables us to cover the entire value chain for our co-investors”
The mainly privately-owned Corestate was founded in 2006 and now maintains offices in Frankfurt, Essen, London, Luxembourg and Singapore. It has invested around €2.5bn to date focused on residential and commercial real estate, while investing alongside its partners in funds and direct investments.
