Research on Real Estate in Berlin

I am thinking about investing in Belin and am looking for research material. The only good English reference I found (via Google) in Berlin Real Estate Investment .
Their market research is interesting, but does not go into tax, closing cost issues. Any recommendations for other sites?

Thanks

The best research you could do is to go to Berlin and have a look around at the neighbourhoods there's alot of fancy advertising about selling properties in prime locations when in fact they are not. If you want to make money on renting forget it for about 20 years!

Best advice is to avoid Berlin. It is situated in the former East Germany and does not have much to recommend it as investment material (I like the city, but wouldn't invest three). The city is also 60 billion in debt, which the government refuses to pay, so property taxes look certain to be a major issue in the medium term. Prices for medicre residential property in particular are being pushed up by Irish and UK buyers waving chequebooks and making comparisons to prices back home.

If you want to invest in Germany, go to Frankfort, Munich, or any other city with a better local economy.

Do go to Berlin - It is an excellent city and will not see you wrong in the medium to long term investment wise. German banks are beginning to open up and the market will grow - Berlin is getting a new airport and is a very vibrant and creative city. Do go there however as there are definitely areas to be avoided - If rental yield is most important then the 'bad' areas are the best though. Real estate agents there are catching on to the paddy price so be carefull. Get some German speaking advice. Germany is a sleeping giant that is waking up, and anywhere there will be a solid investment especially if you are borrowing and need some peace of mind with investing - Far better than the '..ia' ending countries where God knows what the future holds in such economies. The German economy is huge and the berlin economy has to and eventually will catch up. It has its bad points but far more good points to counter that.

barryo said:

The German economy is huge and the berlin economy has to and eventually will catch up. It has its bad points but far more good points to counter that.

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My point exactly -- any of the better cities in the west of the country are a safer bet than Berlin, far less bad points etc.

True, but that's reflected in the much higher prices of property in the likes of Munich, Frankfurt or Stuttgart compared to Berlin.
Percentage yields are probably similar in all these cities, but the lower prices in Berlin could make it more affordable.