German retail acquisitions soar

[BERLIN] German retail property acquisitions more than doubled in the first quarter as demand for stable returns pushed the total above the UK for the first time since 2012, Cushman & Wakefield Inc said yesterday in a report.

Investors bought 3.43 billion euros (S$5.87 billion) of German shops and malls in the first quarter, 116 per cent more than a year earlier, David Hutchings, Cushman & Wakefield's head of Europe, Middle East and Africa investment strategy, said. UK purchases climbed 27 per cent to 3.37 billion euros.

"The underlying attraction is the stability of Germany; it's a low-volatility, safe market," Mr Hutchings said. "There's a view that growth from good-quality retail will start to accelerate in the coming years." Insurers, pension funds and money managers are buying German commercial properties as a way to boost returns amid record-low interest rates in fixed-income markets. Retail asset prices are under pressure to rise as supply fails to keep up, New York-based Cushman & Wakefield said in the report.