Green Buildings Are Becoming Fashionable

In the land of Hesse municipalities signed an agreement that they would elaborate an action plan to reduce CO2 emmissions and to report regularly on results. It is evident that a lower consumption of energy saves money, but first, the municipalities have to invest and many do not have a budget for this. Why do they make an effort anyway? It is very simple: if you can proof that you have been working on a reduction of emissions, with positive results, you have access to more subsidies from the Government and the EU. The goal is to team up with100 municipalities, so far 55 are on board. Here is the list.

The municipalities want to refurbish residential blocks and public buildings to reduce CO2 emissions. Frankfurt also signed the agreement in 2009. Until 2025 the reducion of CO2 emissions could come to 41%, a huge potential. 

But green buildings are on the list of the European Union already, this is not only a German initiative. On 16 April the European Union awarded the best green buildings.  The prize is for architects that have developed buildings that are ahead of their time. 13 buildings have been awarded in 4 different categories.

More about the Green European Building Programme you can find here.

FM has become a key industry in Germany

At the beginning of the year the first industry report had been published and Germany is still discussing the – even for insiders – astoundingly good news: facility management contributes more to the GNP than any other industry; more than the automobile or chemical industry.

The study had been carried out by the University of Bochum and Professor Markus Thomzik qualifies the FM industry as an important backbone of the German economy, though the figures have been calculated in a really conservative way. The study stressed on the importance for the economic growth rate, while another positive point was left aside: According to the report 4.1 million workers can be appointed to the FM industry. About 3.1 million workers are directly working within the FM service industry, but still another 1.1 million get their salary from it: lawyers, consultants, architects, IT experts, etc.

Now the industry has proof that it is not wise to keep ignoring them.

Still much potential for new shopping centers

This article is based on information that had been researched by Bulwien Gesa.

In 2009 noboy wanted to hear about retail investments. After a strong 2007 and a moderate 2008, the year 2009 can be considered loss-making. According to Bulwien Gesa all this could change for the better in 2010 with many foreign investors leading the group of potential investors. Recently also the Deutsche Bank Think Tank mentioned that Germany is the only country where the real estate market is not very much affected by the crisis and where the risk is more manageable than in its neighbor countries (this was actually about residential investments, but still shows the difference in the EU). Investors who purchased properties with long contracts have not much to fear in 2010 as only a few contracts will expire this year.

Properties: Should I Buy From Forced Auctions? How?

In this article I am summarizing the pros and cons of buying properties in Germany through an auction. I am talking about forced auctions held by the courts.

The How-To is here: http://bit.ly/bBpwgU

The pros of an auction:

• No commission is involved, unless you want a broker or consultancy to help you with the assessment of the information that you might want to gather before you go for the property.
• The court always provides for free you with a valuation that had been done by an independant architect. Normally you have to pay for this paper.
• In most cases the property will be handed over with a clean land register. Exceptions are very special cases that are mentioned in the documentation the court can provide you with.
• You are entitled to the income of the property as of the day of the auction. 
• Commercial leases can be cancelled within 4 weeks after the auction (not residential leases!!). 

The cons:

• Many times you might not be able to visit the property from inside since the owner or creditor does not offer this. They are not legally obliged to show you around.
• If the former owner resists the hand-over of the property, though he legally cannot do so, you might face a lot work for some time.
• Nobody assumes any liability for the property regarding damages etc.

If you need help, do not hesitate to contact FIS: hello@fis24.net

Germany: What is the future of residential investments in the next years?

German brokers are expecting foreign investors to come back to Germany because they need cash-flow in stable markets.  Office and retail properties gave a much better yield than residential investments, but their share is only 10% in the German market. These figures were given by Bulwien Gesa, a German market intelligence company. The opportunities to change for another type of property are relatively small and also the banks are only interested in financing stable investments, which in Germany is residential. Bulwien Gesa remarks that they see the residential market of 2010 like in 2004, with the potential of developing a new bubble. The prices might rise when foreign investors will sell what they bought in the last years with short term finance. Small and bigger portfolios that many investors are looking for will come back to the market.

Berlin: new resi project where once the Nazis surrendered and the KGB ruled

Berlin-Karlshorst was established in the late 19th century as garden-city of Berlin, in the North-East of the city. After the WW II it has long been the place only known for the unconditional surrender of the Deutsche Wehrmacht.

After that the KGB took the caserne as their HQ in Eastern Germany. When in 1994 the Russian Allies left Eastern Germany, the premises were partially converted into the German-Russian Museum.

German government still in Bonn. When will they move (and cut costs)?

The social democratic party (SPD) is claiming a final date when the rest of the government will move from Bonn to Berlin. It sounds impossible to understand why 20 years after the fall of the wall, in the 20th year of reunification there are as many civil servants and government employees in Berlin as in Bonn. Does the German population actually know? Apparently not. The subject came up when somebody in the Bundestag had a closer look on the list of government spending.