Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM) has acquired two residential properties in Berlin and Rostock for €30m on behalf of one of Germany’s largest co-operative banks. The deals follow on from recent acquisitions for the mandate in Munster and Leipzig and are part of the bank’s investment programme to spend at least €300m over the next two to three years in German residential real estate, with a focus on affordable housing.
Michael Keune, Managing Director of Catella Residential IM, said: “These latest additions to the mandate’s portfolio involve an existing property in Berlin and a project development in Rostock, both of which fulfil a societal need for affordable accommodation in attractive residential areas while providing low-risk, secure income, for our client. In Berlin, we made a conscious decision to invest in an existing property that sits within the framework of a rent cap. The property provides homes in one of the city’s most sought-after residential areas, Prenzlauer Berg in the Pankow district, for less than €8 per m².”
The 2,871m² complex in Berlin comprises 47 residential units and is located on Bornholmer Strasse in the middle of a district famous for its 19th Century renovated houses and the largest concentration of Wilhelmian-era architecture in Germany. The area has excellent connectivity, with a public tram and S-Bahn light-rail stops only a few minutes walk away, and a variety of convenience shops in the immediate vicinity.
The second acquisition is a development in the Brinckmansdorf district of Rostock, a thriving Hanseatic university city situated at the mouth of the Warnow River, where it enters the Baltic Sea, in the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The development is located three kilometres east of the city centre in a quiet residential area and, when completed, will provide 82 residential units in four multi-family buildings spread over a 6,350m² site.
The neighbourhood features a number of small multi-family buildings and single, terraced and semi-detached houses with a few local shops and a supermarket in the vicinity. A bus stop is within walking distance of the property and the city centre can be reached in less than 15 minutes. In addition to its proximity to the old centre, the development has easy access to recreational opportunities offered by the nearby Kösterbeck mountains and forest and the Riekdahler Wiesen nature reserve. Rostock’s population of 210,000 is expected to grow to 230,000 by 2035.
