News and Press Releases

Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management’s CER III Fund, which had its first close in July as CRIM’s maiden pan-European residential vehicle open to international investors, has attracted its first commitment from outside Germany with €40 million from France’s Primonial REIM. The fund is targeting at least €1.0 billion in investments across European residential real estate markets, from an initial launch with €50 million in seed capital from a German pension plan, which also made a top-up of €20 million.

The European market for logistics property is part of the boom in the European real estate markets. Demand is increasing, while the supply of new properties is hardly keeping pace. As a result, transaction prices and rents are rising, while yields are falling. It is only a matter of time before yields drop below the 4.00% threshold. Investors therefore need to pay particular attention to potential regions. Catella Research has analysed the European logistics scene, covering 109 logistics locations in 104 regions.

Today we want to inform you about a changing investor profile in the Austrian real estate market. In the past, Austria as an investment location was dominated by national and regional investors and reserved at most for specialists, but this has changed significantly.

Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) has launched its Catella European Student Housing Fund II (CESHF II), with approximately €100 million in capital commitments from institutional investors at a first close. The fund is expected to invest up to €250 million across European markets in the next two years. Its first acquisition is an apartment building  in the German city of Mannheim for about €38 million. CESHF II’s second close is planned for the first quarter of 2020.

All over Europe – the housing markets of metropolises and regional locations are showing impressive growth rates – people continue to move to cities and urban centres, rents and purchase prices are rising, yields are falling. The analysis of the European housing markets can be summed up in this short formula. But in spite of this "perfect storm" from an investors approach, the developments that put those responsible under pressure are also becoming visible. 

CORESTATE Capital Holding S.A. (CORESTATE), a leading independent real estate investment manager in Europe, has acquired a student housing and micro apartment complex in Cologne-Deutz for the special BVK-Residential Europe real estate fund of Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK). BVK is one of the largest institutional investors in Germany. The core property under development has a total investment volume of approx. EUR 60 million. The sales process on the seller side was structured and controlled by Catella Property.

Catella European Residential I (CER I), launched in 2007 as the first institutional property fund to invest specifically in residential assets across European markets, has raised €90 million in just one day from existing investors. Berlin-based investment advisor Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) will place the capital in new segments of the rapidly growing real estate ‘Living Sector’ in France and Spain and extend the fund’s geographical reach to additional markets like Austria.     

Catella Research has again analysed the European office real estate market at 37 locations in 18 countries, with Italy, Portugal and Ireland being added this time. 

Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) the largest pan-European platform investing in the real estate Living Sector, has acquired a development of 100 apartments and a supermarket in Braunschweig in Lower Saxony, as well as a senior living property in the eastern German city of Dresden, for a total of about €30 million.

Even though Germany is virtually spending holidays together this week and it appears to be calmer, it is clear that the commercial real estate markets at the 7-top locations are currently experiencing only a slight easing. 

The Munich-based capital management company Catella Real Estate AG has completed the first sale from the special fund "Catella MAX" with the sale of the mixed-use property "Pasinger Triangel" in the Munich district of Pasing. The buyer is German life insurance company the LV 1871 (Lebensversicherung von 1871 a. G. München). Catella Property GmbH acted as intermediary. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.

Catella Wohnen Europa, the pan-European residential fund advised by Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM), has entered its 10th market in Europe with the acquisition of a portfolio of over 300 apartments across Finland for nearly €80 million. Catella Asset Management Oy acted as a local partner for the buyer.  

A few weeks ago, we once again asked the German multi-asset managers about their attitude and perspective when it comes to real estate. Especially since the signs have changed: Looking back, the real estate year 2019 will go down in history as the era in which value-added investment strategies structurally replaced traditional core-investment-styles. Structurally, because there are no signs of a significant change in the interest rate landscape. In addition, there are changes at the macroeconomic level: it is becoming more and more obvious that classical property selection, applied to selected markets using a top-down approach, is becoming more and more ambitious. In the current transaction market, it is clear that the majority of investments are primarily made on a deal-by-deal basis.

The Catella European Residential Fund III, launched in March 2019, has completed a first close and secured a maiden investment in Copenhagen, passing initial milestones towards a target €1.0 billion total investment volume. The Fund, managed by Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM), is the first Luxembourg-based pan-European vehicle allowing international investors access to a geographically diversified portfolio of assets in the residential sector. The two earlier CRIM funds were structured for German institutional investors.

Frankfurt, 27.06.2019 – The former office district of Niederrad becomes a hot spot for working and living with short distances in the middle of the city. The Living Lyon project was completed on schedule by Catella yesterday. The tenants of the 2- to 3-room apartments can move in on 1 July as promised. The project is almost fully let before completion; only a handful of apartments are still available.

Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management GmbH (CRIM), the Swedish Catella Group’s investment manager focused exclusively on the residential asset class, has acquired a total of almost 300 apartments in three transactions for an individual mandate for a southern German pension fund. The properties are located in Aarhus in Denmark, in Tilburg in the Netherlands and in the HafenCity district of Hamburg in Germany. The total purchase volume comes to approximately EUR 117 million. Institutional Investment Partners (2IP) is acting as the financial investment management company (KVG), while CRIM is responsible for managing the portfolio.

The German housing markets have now reached the heart of political life. The coalition agreement not only provides for the rent indexes to be standardised or qualified, but also for the "actual tenancies" to be recorded. Nevertheless, the question arises as to how the markets have actually functioned in recent decades? 

The Catella Mordernes Wohnen (CMW) fund, advised by Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM), has acquired a property on the Côte d’Azur in Nice for EUR 11.5 million. The CMW fund focuses on modern forms of living in European growth regions. Catella Real Estate AG (CREAG) acts as KVG.

The project developers of QUEST Investment Partners have acquired Emmler Lofts in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district. The property was sold by FORTIS Real Estate Investment GmbH, whose exclusive consultant was Catella Property GmbH. It has been agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The office and retail property with a rental area of around 5,000 sqm is located at 25-26 Kottbusser Damm.

We once again focused on the Nordic real estate markets. It is obvious that this is less difficult for us due to our broad and deep market coverage as a company with Nordic roots. On the other hand, we have also noticed stronger investor demand in the Nordics in the past 24 months, especially with enquiries from first-time international investors particularly. 

What do you think of when you hear the term "residential real estate investments"? And what else do you think of when you hear the term "Finland"? An exotic combination? It may be that a holiday home in Karelia in the slowly approaching summer spontaneously comes to mind. But investors traditionally see it more rationally. An asset class and a market with clear upwards potential is the current picture they see. The combination unites exactly two aspects that have come on the radar of investors in recent years in search of attractive investments.

POLIS Immobilien AG has acquired an office and service centre of around 33,000 sqm in the city centre of Gera. The acquisition was part of an asset deal. The seller is TLG IMMOBILIEN AG, Catella Property brokered the sale. 

"Traveling used to be somehow easier." This thought or sigh may go over some people's lips in their current planning. Especially since meanwhile the travel and/or vacation planning is focused only indirectly on the supraregional or local choice of the location. "Mountains or sea" is supplemented increasingly also by "city" or "event" and "choice of travel means". Never before has there been such a choice in the search for recreation, education and adventure or best all together.

The wave of digital transformation has been one of the most discussed topics in recent years, and the emergence of the e-commerce market is one of the direct impacts that most of us encounter in our everyday lives. The practical option of having goods delivered to your front door, in some cases even on the same day they are ordered, has long since proved to be a structural threat to the retail sector. Shopping centres appear to be the most affected by this change and are under strong transformation pressure. The creation of "shopping experiences" and the focus on leisure shopping, it seems, are some of the most significant strategic options for repositioning. At the core is a strong focus on food & beverage (F&B) in shopping centres, more gastronomy and sufficient experience to manage this transformation process. 

After this unexpected spring break with double-digit temperatures, it is time to send you our latest Catella investment analysis of the 76 German office locations. Especially since our analysis is also based on double-digit results.

Investment volumes in the European property sector have increased relatively steadily since 2009. The current economic boom is the second-longest ever and despite some indications of a future cooldown, the drivers of continued allocation of capital to the property sector still seem strong.  

The market for innovative space solutions at the workplace remains dynamic, the demand for so-called flexible office space, or to use the now established term "coworking", is increasing. There is no doubt that this is less a product than an industrial transformation process. A measurable detachment from long-term space ties on the part of companies, towards short-term rental structures.

German commercial real estate markets were quite busy in the final quarter of 2018. Now the year-end figures are also available and one thing is very clear: a spectacular year is behind us. But see for yourself:

At the beginning of 2019, qualitative sentiment patterns and quantifiable fundamental values collide once again. Both belong together in the markets, and it is precisely the supposedly objective weighting of both factors that forms the basis for future behaviour and action on the capital and real estate markets. This is usually noiseless when sentiment and fundamental indicators are largely synchronised - as has usually been the case over the past five years in Europe.