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Market Background Research
German Jobless Falls to
15 1/2-Year Low; Italy Slows (Update1)
By John Fraher
April 1 (Bloomberg) -- German unemployment fell to the lowest
since 1992 in March and manufacturing accelerated as Europe's
largest economy helped the region cope with a global credit
squeeze and weaker growth in Italy and Spain.
Germany's jobless rate declined to 7.8 percent from 8 percent in
February, the Federal Labor Agency said today, and a Royal Bank
of Scotland Group Plc index of German manufacturing rose to 55.1
this month from 54.3. Italian manufacturing contracted for the
first time in three years and an index of Spanish factory
activity was the weakest since December 2001.
German exports and corporate investment are helping to shore up
growth across Europe as Italian manufacturers struggle to cope
with a stronger euro and falling property prices curb growth in
Spain. ...
Property Slump
``Germany and other northern European countries continue to see
surprisingly strong performance in the face of current headwinds,
while Mediterranean countries show a continuation of a worrying
downtrend, especially Spain,''' said Royal Bank of Scotland
chief euro-region economist Jacques Cailloux in an e- mailed
note.
Commentary
In the current situation with the aftermath of the subprime
crisis originating in the US it seems a blessing that the
German
property market was not part of the property bubble of the
last decade. There is solid development and opportunity for
lucrative investment. The latest mega deal of Lone Star buying a
portfolio of 1,300 properties from Deutsche Post shows the
confidence of the financial sector in the
German real
estate market.
There are investments available at all levels. From a Buy to Let
Investment Apartment at 40,000 Euro to apartment blocks between
600,000 Euro and 1.5 million Euro to mega deals.
Some of these you can find at www.Properties-in-Germany.de
Uwe Falkenberg
Abu Dhabi investors buy into Berlin City West
( dpa )- First it was Potsdamer Platz which was redeveloped,
after the communist Berlin Wall was cleared off it.
Now, it is the turn of the heart of former West Berlin, near the
war-ruined Memorial Church and Zoo Railway Station, to attract
international investors.
Abu Dhabi and other emirates investors plan to plough millions
of euros into a major revamp of what used to be the central
business district of West Berlin in the bad old days of division.
Architects are planning a spate of new buildings around the Zoo
Station and the high-rise Europa Centre shop and office complex
nearby, and along a shopping stretch near the modern,
blue-glazed Memorial Church.
As it is, Berlin's skyline is already set to change dramatically
with construction later this year of a spectacular
120-million-euro (175-million-dollar) Giant Wheel, Europe's
biggest Ferris wheel.
Although long-distance trains no longer halt at the Zoo station
- they stop instead at the capital's new Hauptbahnhof station -
a scheme to modernize the run-down station complex and other
buildings in the vicinity is now programmed.
The Harvest investment group from the United Arab Emirates will
be spending up to 200 million euros on a development, the Zoo
Fenster , across the way from the Memorial Church.
The church, a popular stop with tourists, is a Lutheran church
shattered during the Second World War onslaught on Berlin and
rebuilt incorporating some of the ruins as a dark reminder of
the evils of war.
The church is in the headlines, with campaigners seeking to
raise 3.5 million euros for urgent repairs to its crumbling
tower. Berlin's city government has promised 1.5 million euros
towards the bill.
The high point of the Zoo Fenster project will be a
120-meter-high skyscraper. A premium hotel is also planned by
2010.
Important Abu Dhabi investors involved in the project predict a
dramatic increase in commercial property values in the western
downtown districts of Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf in the
coming years.
In a separate development, there are plans for the city's
Schimmelpfeng Haus , a building built over the Kantstrasse , to
be replaced by a 120-metre-high hotel, office and business
complex, a brainchild of Casia Property Management
All told, an estimated 1 billion euros is being spent on the
"City West" renewal project, including 300 million euros devoted
to projects around the Zoo Bogen building estate.
As part of the revamp operations, the Budapester Strasse traffic
tunnel near the city's Breitscheid Platz has been filled in,
repaved and plastered, giving visitors easier access to the
city's familiar high-rise Europa Centre shopping-residential
complex.
It is here that Europa Centre operator Christian Pepper has
spent 60 million euros modernizing the popular shopping haunt.
Investor interest close to the Kurfuerstendamm , Berlin's most
prestigious shopping strip, is helping boost business confidence
throughout the city's central Charlottenburg and Wilmersdorf
districts.
For a period after the city's 1989 reunification, the
Kurfuerstendamm appeared set to lose out, as a host of cinemas,
theatres and restaurants went out of business.
The Kurfuerstendamm - Kudamm for short - still glittered at
night but much of its old flavour and tang had dimmed in the
1990s, as talk focussed on the east with the reinvented
Potsdamer Platz , the new Friedrichstrasse shopping malls, and
the revival of the communist-era hub, Alexander Platz .
Now, that is less the case. The Kudamm has recovered much of its
old glamour and assertiveness in the past three years, as new
high-end shops open and its pavement cafes, restaurants and pubs
win renewed popularity.
"The Kudamm is very much back in the frame, popular with
Berliners and foreigners alike," say Berlin's mayor Klaus
Wowereit , who now lives in an apartment overlooking the
boulevard.
.png) One
way to participate in this development is through Investment
Apartments in the districts of Charlottenburg and Wilmerdorf.
Currently there are offers in these areas available at:
www.city-of-berlin.info/InvestmentApartments
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