International buyers snap up German stores

Berlin

GERMAN malls and stores are being snapped up by international buyers at the fastest pace since 2007 even as online shopping lures customers away from the country's bricks- and-mortar shops.

Almost six billion euros (S$9 billion) of retail properties were bought by foreign investors in the first half of this year, about three times more than in the same period of 2014, according to an estimate by BNP Paribas Real Estate.