Sales of German apartments to firms up 23%

[BERLIN] German apartment portfolios valued at 13.8 billion euros (S$23.9 billion) changed hands in 2013, the most since 2006 as publicly traded landlords expanded their properties to take advantage of rising rents.

Companies spent 23 per cent more on German homes, in groupings of at least 50 units, in 2013 than a year earlier, CBRE Group said in a statement. German buyers accounted for 80 per cent of deals, including Deutsche Wohnen's acquisition of rival GSW Immobilien's 60,000 units.

"The supply on offer, especially in large and economically strong cities, isn't sufficient to meet the demand," said Konstantin Luettger, head of German residential investment at CBRE in Frankfurt.