John Duffield, founder and chairman of New Star Asset Management, has put millions of pounds of his family’s money into overseas commercial property, including German offices and Polish warehouses, amid fears that the British market is past its best. Sunday Times
The German property market is a favourite with many fund managers because it has lagged its neighbours and now looks cheap by comparison. Last year, IPD shows the total return – rental income plus capital growth – from German commercial property was just 1.3%, compared with 21.7% in France and 17.4% in Spain.
Ian Stewart of Merrill Lynch, the US investment bank, has even called Germany one of the best property investments of the decade. He said: 'The greatest potential for price rises is perhaps in one of the most depressed and undervalued markets in the world – Germany.'