Lack of product crimps German hotel transaction volumes

Engel & Völkers Hotel Consulting oversaw hotel transactions and project developments worth around €780m during 2018. The largest transaction was a trophy asset at the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin. It also took part in other transactions in Hamburg and Munich and it sold a resort hotel development in one of the Baltic Sea's best-known holiday destinations. The company expects strong market fundamentals to allow it to continue growing in 2019, though like the rest of the real estate market, it has become difficult to find hotel assets for buyers. "For the current year, we will continue our expansion course," says Andreas Ewald, Managing Partner of Engel & Völkers Hotel Consulting. "Although the market climate is characterized by product shortages and increasing prices, investors still want to actively purchase hotel real estate. This is not only the result of our Sentiment Report 2018, a survey among the most important hotel operators and investors, it is also reflected in our various mandates."