LACK OF LARGE DEALS DEPRESSES THE OVERALL RESULT
The challenging financial conditions had a significant impact on the commercial investment market throughout the year, as demonstrated by the decreased transaction volume of retail investments. Therefore, the total investment volume of around €5.7 billion can only be compared to the previous year to a limited extent (-40%) and to an even lesser extent to the long-term average (-51%). Further analysis of the data indicates a significant year-on-year decline in turnover for larger segments of €50 million or more (-47%). In contrast, the decline in smaller properties with a volume of €50 million or less was relatively modest (-25%). The fourth quarter, which recorded the highest number of individual transactions, experienced an average transaction volume of only around €12 million, underlining the small-scale nature of the market. It should be noted that this trend is not exclusive to the retail industry, as office and logistics investments also ended the year with a total of approximately €6 billion. The retail portfolio segment is experiencing positive market momentum, although this is reflected more in the number of deals than in turnover (€2.5bn).