The proportion of the €30.4 billion of 2013 German commercial real estate transaction activity accounted for by international investors fell last year to 33 percent, says Savills, from 46 percent in 2012. Middle Eastern and Asian buyers were the only overseas investors last year to increase their year-on-year investment volume into the German real estate market, from €1.05 billion in 2012 to €1.36 billion in 2013.

Andreas Wende, head of investment at Savills Germany, explains: “Over the coming years, we expect interest from Asian and Middle Eastern buyers to increase further as they look for diverse but safe investment opportunities.” Liquidating German open-end funds selling domestic assets will provide much of that opportunity.

“It wasn’t that there wasn’t enough interest last year from foreign investors,” says Dr Georg Allendorf, member of the executive committee at ZI