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Question of the Day: Is property in Berlin Mitte available?

The real question was:

While we did not see anything we liked, the area we are interested in is the Mitte. Do you have any property in this area?

The Mitte of Berlin seems to be a great location and as we all learned Locations is everything (which by the way is complete nonsense). Another thing we know is that the higher the risk the higher the yield will be. (this time the learning is right)

  • While you ask me ‘Do you have something in Berlin-Mitte’ I constanly ask my clienst the following questions:
    1. Do you really want this?
    2. Are you willing to wait for capital appreciation to get a good yield?
    in other words:
    3. Are you willing to accept a rental yield of 2% to 3%?

    To answer your question:
    Yes, we do have property in Berlin-Mitte and we saw a lot property that were sold in the last 10 years.

    Our current Berlin-Mitte property list (as of June 2007)

  • a multi family home for 2,346 Mio Euro (fully let) on a very low yield of 2,4% (its the location that makes it so expensive)
  • a multi family home that needs restoration for 1,3 Mio Euro (empty and therefor no yield)
  • a multi family home in need of renovation for 1,5 Mio (empty and therefor no yield)
  • The bottom line
    Mitte is to expensive for investors, and befor you even ask
    Prenzlauerberg is to expensive, too.
    The yield you get there reflects the fact that it is a very risk free investment.

    The most promising Alternative to Mitte and Prenzlauerberg
    Why don’t you have a look on Whitelake (Weissensee) its the neighbour area of Prenzlauerberg and to my opinion the only way to go, if you want to invest like you should:

    “Buy low, ahead of the market and never behind the market”.

    The basic idea

    My basic idea for Whitelake is very simple.

    high quality of living

    Mitte and Prenzlauerberg is expensive because its the city center and all the nice things like galleries, cafes, restaurants and pubs are there.

    Inhabitants of Mitte and Prenzlauerberg

    But did you notice that most of the inhabitans are (very) young.
    A lot of them are in their earliy 30ties and on the way to change hapits radically, because a lot of them have kids, not less do have 3 and more.
    The birthrate is 3,0%

    I talked to our locale (protestant) pastor Hartmut Scheel and he told me he will have his third funeral next week. He told me this at the end of June 2007! While in some areas of Berlin, like Wilmersdorf and Charlottenburg they have 3 funerals a week!
    Average age in Berlin-Mitte and Berlin-Prenzlauerberg
    The average member of the protestant church community in Berlin-Mitte is 34 years (2007) and 31 years (2007) in Prenzlauerberg, the average of any other district in Berlin is much higher.

    How do they want to live?
    They want to live
    a) quite & save (as all people do when they have kids)
    a) good schools
    b) green areas
    c) organic shopping possibilities (that’s one reason why Prenzlauerberg has the biggest orgnaic food market troughout Europe!)

    but most important to your investment decision they want to life in big flats!
    The size of flats increased over the last 10 years and even singles live in 2 room flats.
    Married with 2-3 kids those people are looking for 5 rooms and plus.

    What they don’t want.

    while asking what they want is crutial asking what they don’t want is important too.
    They don’t want to loose their old lifestyle(s) and their not-yet-married friends.
    The ONLY way to have it a little greener, bigger flat and be close to Prenzlauerberg is Weissensee.

    5 Minutes bike ride and you are in your old quarter.
    You got the point?
    Please ask questions by commenting this articel.

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