International investors in German property seem to have woken up to the fact that they have been playing pass the parcel with empty boxes. Despite huge interest in the office and retail markets in cities such as Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt, the underlying property market remains stubbornly sluggish. Sunday Telegraph
Both capital values and rental income have remained at or near the levels of five years ago, as the German economy has failed to grow into the huge volumes of space built during the boom of the late 1990s.
Jones Lang LaSalle research show that vacancy levels in the Frankfurt office market have barely shifted over the past four years, moving from 16.7% to 15.2%, more than double the optimum level for an international financial centre.