Industria Wohnen buys more resi in Rhine-Main for €106m

German listed housing company Industria Wohnen has acquired a German residential portfolio in a forward deal worth €106m from the Dutch Ten Brinke Group, with whom it has already done two further deals.

In a statement, Industria Wohnen said that this is the third portfolio acquisition carried out on behalf of its Industria Wohnen Deutschland V open-ended real estate fund, launched a year ago. All three purchases were made from Ten Brinke Group, which is currently also developing new projects jointly with Industria Wohnen in Dresden, Berlin, Cologne, Wuppertal and Mainz.

The portfolio consists of 391 residential units, offering a total living space of 28,800 sqm, plus 46 outdoor and 402 underground parking spaces. The units are located in the cities of Mainz, Butzbach and Berlin.

According to Klaus Niewöhner-Pape, managing director of Industria Wohnen, "Within one year after the launch of the fund we have already invested €485m, and thus almost reached the planned fund volume of €500m. This shows that we can keep a high score even in a situation characterised by strong demand.’

According to Industria Wohnen, construction of the apartments in Berlin and Butzbach is scheduled to start in autumn 2018 while the Mainz units will be developed from the spring of 2019. Completion is scheduled in 18 to 22 months after the start of construction. The new locations shifts the centre of gravity of the fund's holdings to the economically strong Rhine-Main area, which includes Mainz.

The Industria fund owns apartments with an average size of 74 sqm, generating an average (cold) monthly rent of €800. About 46% of the apartments are publicly subsidised, which does cap potential upward rent increases.