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Germany - Top 10 research resources
Continuing our weekly series of articles looking at online research resources for international property markets, this time we focus on
Germany. In common with other northern European countries, it is home to a large target audience for agents selling property around the world and in recent years it’s also become a buyer’s destination in its own right.
As an investment destination,
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has named four German cities in its Top 10 European Markets for 2008. As well as the capital Berlin, their Emerging Trends in Real Estate report cites Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt as among the most promising cities for real estate this year. The IMF’s latest
World Economic Outlook indicates that while the UK and
Ireland have substantially over-valued property,
Germany is close to par and is at low risk of a property crash in the coming months.
According to the
Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, German buyers make up a significant proportion of the market at present, and a number of international portals (for example,
Kyero,
Medhead and
Properazzi among others) have identified the benefits of offering property details in German to tap those buyers. There are clearly opportunities for agents who are able to successfully reach this group.
We’ve looked at hundreds of websites relating to property in Germany and narrowed down our selection to what we consider to be the ten best. If you think we might have missed any useful sites from our list, please feel free to
post your comments at the bottom of the page:
Germany-RE.com. Wide-ranging real estate research and consultancy site from Real Estate Publishing with a comprehensive free-to-access news service, aggregating stories from many reputable international sources. There’s a daily European email newsletter available when you register for free, and some company profiles to browse, though the full list is only available in their printed Yearbook for €85 (£68).
Buy Association Germany Buying Guide. A concise, comprehensive and free introduction to the German property market and the buying process that is useful not just to prospective buyers, but to any agent considering selling there who is completely new to the country.
UK Trade and Investment. UK-government site providing basic background information about doing business in Germany including legal guidelines and business etiquette. There’s also a list of useful further contacts to trade associations and local officials.
Invest German Property. Subscription email newsletter service featuring real estate news and focused geographical articles. Originally dedicated just to Munich, the service has now expanded to cover all Germany’s major investment hotspots. Costs £7.50 per month or £69 annually.
www.immobilienscout24.de. Billing itself as “Germany’s largest internet real estate marketplace”, ImmobilienScout24.de is a property portal carrying private and agency listings covering the whole world and claims 2.3 million visitors a month. For agents looking to target German buyers there is some information about the site in English, but most of its content is German-only. Listings are on a monthly fee basis, with a range of packages available.
Bellevue magazine. With a verified audience of some 359,000 for each monthly edition, this magazine’s readership dwarfs that of comparable UK titles (A Place In The Sun has an ABC figure of around 35,000). There’s a downloadable media pack in English explaining the advertising options for those looking to reach a German audience. Limited areas of the website itself are available in English, French, Spanish and Italian.
FIM Munich 2008. Taking place in October, this FerienImmobilienMesse (FIM) one of a series of consumer international property shows (others take place in Berlin and Vienna) for a German-speaking audience. The organizers provide some basic information about participating in the show on the site in several languages.
Berlin Real Estate Insider. Author Alexander Korte is a Berlin real estate professional himself and his blog reflects his personal expertise in the Berlin property market as well as reporting relevant news stories from other sites.
Allgrund.com Frankfurt article. An officially sanctioned English translation of an article in April 2008 issue of Bellevue magazine (see elsewhere in this article) outlining the real estate market in Frankfurt, Germany’s main financial business centre and one of PwC’s Top 10 European property prospects for 2008. This site also has an article on
buying in Germany that newcomers to the German market will find useful.
About.com German Real Estate Glossary. With so many German real estate sites available only in German, if you want to do business there it’s got to be worth spending a little time learning the lingo, or at least the real estate part. This glossary should give you the basics and you’ll soon know your Wohnungssuche from your Teppichboden.
If you're researching other destinations, please refer to our other articles:
Top 10 research resources for
Argentina
Top 10 research resources for
Baltic States
Top 10 research resources for
Brazil
Top 10 research resources for
Canada
Top 10 research resources for
Central America
Top 10 research resources for
China
Top 10 research resources for
Egypt
Top 10 research resources for
India
Top 10 research resources for
Malaysia
Top 10 research resources for
Morocco
Top 10 research resources for
Philippines
Top 10 research resources for
Russia
Top 10 research resources for
South Africa
Top 10 research resources for
UAE
Top 10 research resources for
Ukraine