MIPIM 2019 (24.1 MB)

Investing in Austria
Attractive market
despite falling yields
Sustainable trend reversal. Housing in the focus of national and international investors. However, yields
will continue to fall in 2019.
T
he year 2018 was marked by extraordinarily
intensive activity," says
EHL Managing Partner Franz Pöltl.
"The Austrian market continues to
be attractive for both national and international
investors and the current price level is acceptable
despite falling yields.” One consequence of
the lack of large-scale transactions is that even
the very financially-strong investors are also
active in the middle segment. "Many investors
Investment Market Office Austria
Prime locations: top rents and top yields
30
28
26
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
22,0
23,0
26,0
27,0
27,0
27,0
26,5
26,0
Gross rents
Top rents in EURsqm /month
6,00%
H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
26,0
26,0
26,0
26,0
prefer large-volume properties for reasons of
transaction and cost efficiency, but in view of
future fungibility, the majority of prospective
buyers also like to invest in properties in the
range between 30 and 100 million Euros. Last
year a reasonable number of appealing investment
properties were available in this segment,
which were able to meet the requirements of
the buyers in terms of returns and sustainability
of earnings.”
26,0
26,0
25,5
25,5
5,50%
5,00%
4,50%
4,00%
< 3,50 %
3,50%
3,00%
"The result at the end of 2018 could have been
similar to that of the previous year, but the
limited range of products for international
institutional investors slowed down the investment
volume," explains Georg Fichtinger,
Head of Investment Properties CBRE. In the
previous year, the average transaction was 37
million Euros. In 2017, an average transaction
was still worth 45 million Euros. The lack of
large properties is also reflected in the number
of large-volume transactions. There were only
eight transactions in 2018 with the volume of
over 100 million Euros. "In 2017 there were still
12 transactions of that volume," adds Fichtinger.
In total, German investors accounted for
around 29 percent of all transactions in Austria
in the previous year and 16 percent of the buyers
were international investors from other countries.
In comparison to 2017, when there was a
"total overhang" of foreign investors, this year
56 percent of domestic buyers were actively
involved. According to Fichtinger, this is also
due to a lack of products interesting for international
investors. At around 31 percent, office
Office CBD top rents and top yields
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
13,0
13,0
13,5
14,0
14,0
14,0
13,5
Source: EHL Market Research | Q1 2019
13,5
Gross rents
Top rents in EURsqm /month
H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2 H1 H2
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
13,5
13,5
14,0
14,0
14,0
14,0
14,5
14,5
4,75 %
8,00%
7,00%
6,00%
5,00%
4,00%
3,00%
"German investors in particular
are increasingly interested in
Austrian residential real estate."
Franz Pöltl,
EHL Investment Consulting
24 ImmoFokus