SUBDUED MARKET ACTIVITY IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE YEAR
Even though shopping facilities were able to reopen in June, the number of corona infections is now at a low level and the progress of the vaccination campaign is clearly noticeable, these improved conditions were not yet reflected in the results for the retail investment market at mid-year. Consequently, with an investment volume of just under €2.8 billion at the end of the second quarter, the interim result was almost 61% lower than in the same period of the previous year. One reason for this is not so much the number of deals recorded, which fell by just under 12%, but rather the average volume per sale, which at just over €18 million is significantly lower than the figure of €42 million recorded in 2020. In addition, large-volume portfolio deals as well as takeovers and investments, which, as in the previous year, are usually decisive for a high transaction volume on the retail investment market, were largely absent in the first half of 2021. Accordingly, package sales generated a historically low transaction volume of just €781 million, while single deals remained below the long-term average but almost confirmed their prior-year result.