Why is it bad that there are fewer big investors in real estate? Doesn’t it mean that prices should fall and housing should become more affordable?
Property prices are used here as a proxy for the health of the economy.
The author may or may not be concerned about the affordability of homes. But that’s a different issue. This is just about absolute prices. And low prices mean low interest in Germany. As the article says, people are interested more in London or Paris.
This leads to fewer investments in the economy and Germany is at risk of falling behind.
Sorry, I still don’t get it. What does property prices have to do with the health of the economy?
Especially in times where work from home is going strong and massive office buildings are not needed?
It’s one indicator of economic health out of many. Unlike many other assets, real estate is immovable. So it has a strong association with the location.
Yes, work from home is a good argument, why falling office prices might not be a big deal. The question then becomes, is this trend more pronounced in Germany than in other countries? Maybe, but probably not.
Also unfortunately the article mentions Signa (commercial) and vonovia (residential) real estate. So there’s no clear separation. But overall the trend is true for both.
If office buildings are in demand in one place but not the other, what could that say about their respective economies (i.e. the companies that would use those office spaces)?
It could mean many things, for example: you could argue that companies at the low demand place are more favorable of home office.
Corporate real estate speculators are no longer interested in owning commercial office spaces. Does this mean RTO failed? And how is it not a win to get rid of corporate ownership so that real people can afford real estate again?
So it seems this is mainly in reference to large commercial building rather than homes (excluding apartments).
Its interesting to read that german property owners don’t like to reduce property prices in comparison to other countries when I thought others were pretty against lowering prices as well.