New high-end brokers open Berlin offices for inward investment

Last year sales of luxury residential properties in Germany's top 7 cities topped €3.7bn, amounting to about 3,000 luxury properties (those generally in the top 0.5% category, and costing €750,000-plus). This was a rise of nearly 25% over the previous year 2014, according to a new report by leading luxury German residential broker Dahler & Company.

Of the nearly 3,000 properties including villas and apartments meeting the 'luxury' category, according to Dahler, Munich topped the list with 920 properties at a transaction volume of €1.2bn, an increase of 41% on the previous year.

Berlin proved the weakest of the seven cities, partly because of a lack of suitable properties. Munich and Hamburg top the list with steady grrowth and rising sales and turnover figures. Düsseldorf volumes also rose as a result of new-built luxury properties to cater for demand.

Despite lack of supply in Berlin, the city is about to get its first licensed representative office of the Cannes-headquartered luxury property broker John Taylor. Further offices are expected to follow in Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Munich and Hamburg. In contrast to other top-end brokers such as Engel & Völkers or Von Poll, however, the John Taylor German franchisee is focusing on offering high-class German properties to foreign investors.

Daniel Masnaghetti, head of John Taylor Corporate, commented: "Our international clientele is very interested in luxury property in Berlin. Our clients now want to have a city apartment in Berlin, just as they already have apartments in New York or a place in Paris." John Tayor was founded in Cannes in 1864, and now has 21 branches in 12 countries.

Another new arrival on the franchised broker scene in Berlin is Coldwell Banker – Urban Living, the first German office of the US Coldwell Banker group, part of listed Realogy Corp's extensive property broking network. The new branch office is also focused on the high-end segment of Berlin's residential property market.

Heading up the Coldwell Banker office in Berlin are Roman Menzel (ex-Bouwfonds) and Markus Feldt (ex-Zabel Property Group, Apellas, ORCO), both experienced real estate professionals with plenty of Berlin experience. Feldt commented, "The Berlin property market is undergoing massive change at the moment. The demand from investors outside Germany for residential property in Berlin has risen strongly. There are however very few international players involved in apartment brokerage.

"At the moment nearly all the top project developments in central locations are being snapped up by foreign buyers. As prices rise by about 10% annually, investors are having to focus on ever-smaller and more compact apartment sizes, and this needs full-service agencies able to handle the changing needs of these international investors."

Coldwell Banker is a network of full-service residential and commercial property brokers, part of the world's largest network Realogy, with 86,000 staff in more than 3,000 offices in 43 ountries worldwide.