german property investment

just wondering if anybody had any thoughts on investing in residential property in Germany.Prices seem reasonable but are they going anywhere ?Any experience with dealing with German banks ?

Would you mind telling us why you think prices are "reasonable"?

Hi Bob - Have a search for similar topics on this forum, particularly investments in Berlin.

Hi Bob, just one thing to beware of. The new German government has just recently announced a new fiscal package aimed at balancing the federal budget. I do recall seeing a reference to a property tax. I cannot remember if this would be applicable to either commercial or residential property but you would be wise to check it out. The new German government is a coalition of left and right of centre parties so there there are some pro & anti business elements in the new budget.

I did a quick internet search for this and could not find anything so perhaps I mis-read the original article (but I am almost sure that I did not).

Regards,

JohnBoy

hi guys

i've looked into buying property but (for what it's worth) have come to the conclusion that
a. initial expenses (eg stamp duty, legal fees etc) are too high (at approximately 15% of property value)
b. local knowledge is missing
c. putting all eggs in one foreign basket is too risky

the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) is a market in London in which you can buy shares in companies that buy hundreds of properties in specific locations (check out dawnay day carpathian for example). you can buy and sell these daily (albeit for a cost), the fact that they are listed companies means that they are run by professionals, and also your investment is diversified across hundreds / thousands of prroperties.

they provide return through dividends (typically they return a propertion of the rent collected), and also capital appreciation (or deprecdiation) is the value of the properties held goes up (or down)

this is by far the safest way to get exposure to foreign property