The introduction of the euro, low inflation rates and the dismantling of tax advantages in Germany will, according to private bankers, create new parameters for investment in real estate. It will be important for private and institutional investors to trade anti-cyclically and diversify, and carefully explore the selected markets.
The German commercial property market currently has a surplus of office properties although the first signs of improvement, in the form of more stable rent prices, are in sight. Berlin and the new states of the former East Germany are being hit most by this. The retail property market is also becoming weaker due to sinking turnovers in the retail trade.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 11 November 1998, page 30
