The Supervisory Board of Youniq AG has appointed Rainer Nonnengässer as new chairman of the Management Board of Youniq AG. The new CEO, aged 47, will head the company together with CFO Dr. Marcel Crommen. Nonnengässer succeeds Rudolf J. Bartsch to the office who resigned from the board for health reasons and subject to mutual consensus with the supervisory board as of June 30, 2010. In addition to the Management Board changes, the shareholder meeting elected Dr. Georg Reul as new member of the Supervisory Board as of June 11.

Rainer Nonnengässer looks back on more than 20 years of experience in the real estate industry. Having served the Union Investment fund management company in various roles, Rainer Nonnengässer – a trained banker – joined AXA Group in 1998 and held diverse senior management positions and board mandates since. Most recently, his sphere of ownership as Global COO of AXA Real Estate Investment Managers included all investments, project developments and the company’s asset management.

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The challenge of sustainability is represented in the portfolio of residential buildings. For in 2009 as well, just 159,000 apartments were completed in Germany, which corresponds to 0.4% of the total inventory. "Sustainability for residential real estate is not a question of new construction projects but rather, a question of portfolio management. However, creating incentives for sustained modernization projects is easier said than done. Both the ownership structure and tenant behavior pose stumbling blocks on the way to sustainability," explains Dr. Marcus Cieleback, head of Patrizia Research, in his latest market analysis.

The German housing market is characterized by private owners. 40% of all residential units are owner-occupied and 37% belong to private small-scale landlords. An analysis of the ownership structure of single-family homes completed before 1990 shows that 48% of the owners of these buildings are over 60 years old. Owing to this circumstance alone, the incentive to make energy-saving investments is low, since the owners cannot expect that the renovation measures will be repaid within their lifetimes. A similar situation applies to the owners of owner-occupied apartments. This is exacerbated by the fact that the Wohnungseigentumsgesetz (WEG – German Condominium Act) has set up major hurdles for constructional measures so that just a few owners can prevent energy-efficiency renovations to a residential facility.

The challenge posed for professional real estate companies, to which 23% of the apartments in Germany belong, is somewhat different. The decisive question for them is whether tenants focus on their rent including heating charges over the long term or on the amount of basic rent they pay in the short term. Here, there does not yet seem to be any corresponding tenant awareness. Surveys show that just 20% of tenants are prepared to contribute to the costs of energy-efficiency modernization of their building. Landlords therefore face the task of increasing their tenants' awareness in matters of sustainability – not least since the additional costs of modernization cannot normally be fully compensated by savings in terms of operating costs.

This means that in many cases, energy efficiency modernization does not pay off financially for either owners or tenants. "If the government takes its self-proclaimed target of sustainability seriously then it must alter the framework conditions. Whether this is brought about through the introduction of a special allowance for energy efficiency modernization measures, through other financial measures or through an amendment to tenancy law is something that needs to be discussed," says Cieleback. "Whatever the case, the prevailing lack of government action will not lead to enhanced sustainability."

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SEB Asset Management has increased the proportion of German properties in its globally orientated SEB ImmoPortfolio Target Return Fund to 13. A commercial property with a long-term lease in Munich-Pasing was acquired for the open-ended real estate fund. The total investment costs are approximately €20.4 million. The seller is Vienna-based MG Grundbesitz Objekt Gleisdreieck Pasing GmbH & Co. KG, a project development company belonging to UBM Realitätenentwicklung AG.

The property has total rental space of 12,650 sqm and is leased to Praktiker Bau- und Heimwerkermärkte AG, which is listed in the MDAX, until December 2027. A key advantage of the “Am Gleisdreieck / Bodenseestraße“ location is its direct link to the B2 national highway, one of the major arteries leading to Munich city centre.

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Jones Lang LaSalle has appointed Jamie Stewart-Liddon as a senior surveyor in its Tenant Representation team based in London. In his new role he will be providing consultancy, acquisition and disposal advice to office occupiers primarily based in the South East of England.

Jamie brings a broad range of experience with him including a number of years working with a stockbroking firm in the City before his decision to move into commercial real estate five years ago. Most recently Jamie has acted independently on behalf of the Association of Conservative Clubs and has joined the firm from Robert Irving Burns.

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Changes in the characteristics of the European logistics property market have continued to boost the scale and quality of investable stock and are contributing to the sector's rise as an institutionally-acceptable investment medium, according to latest research from CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).

These changes relate to the sector’s potential liquidity and investor base, and the quality of both available assets and the market’s occupier base. For instance, the expansion of outsourcing to third party logistics specialists (3PLs) has contributed to the growth in activity by specialist investors, particularly as world trade and regional infrastructure have developed. In response, the sector now accounts for around 10% of the European property investment market compared with only 6% in 2006.

Richard Holberton, Director of EMEA Research, CBRE, said: “Changes in the industrial sector’s occupational and investment characteristics have made the sector more attractive to institutional investors and have clearly affected pricing. Prime yields over the past 10 years have been around 70 basis points lower than the long-term average, based on a 20-year history. Spreads between logistics and office yields have also narrowed. These factors will influence investors’ views on potential future returns from the sector.”

The number and size of pan-European institutional funds and investors now looking at the opportunities offered by European logistics property has grown.

James Markby, Director of European Industrial & Logistics, CBRE, said: “Institutional investors are increasingly attracted by the sector’s income performance. Although it has generally lower rental growth characteristics, the fact that the sector’s income return has been more than 1.5% higher than the all-property average since 2001 is an attractive feature in an uncertain economic environment. Yet in the current market, there are two potential issues: investors and developers are increasingly holding onto assets, and there remains a tension between book values and realisable pricing when marking to market.”

The stock of investable assets in the sector has also expanded for a number of reasons. Nearly 20% of transactions in the European industrial and logistics market over the past five years have been disposals by former owner/occupiers, compared with 13% for the European real estate investment market as a whole. The absolute scale of the market has also expanded. New developer-led logistics space in CEE, for instance, rose more than tenfold between 2000 and 2008.

Despite this growth, the pattern of investment activity for logistics assets is uneven across Europe, as is the relationship between current pricing and historic yield averages. The UK, in particular, has seen recent strengthening in investment volumes and accounted for over half of last year’s total European industrial investment activity.

The CBRE report suggests that, in general, high relative liquidity would be an obvious advantage in yield terms. Currently, however, the most liquid markets – France and the UK – have divergent positions in terms of their current yields relative to longer-term averages. At a local level, several markets – notably London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Stockholm and Brussels – have seen yields fall from their most recent peak. Some markets including Rotterdam, Milan and Frankfurt have so far not seen much evidence of downward yield movement, although there is clearly pressure in this direction; but this is principally because they did not move out as far to begin with.

“A key consideration for investors in making market selection decisions will be to assess current investment pricing in relation to indicators of prospective occupier demand and relative liquidity; in other words, whether the market offers ‘good value’. It is not always self-evident whether recent yield movements fully reflect local differences in liquidity or demand and growth prospects. An understanding of these trends in a pan-European context will help to inform investment selection,” concluded Holberton.

“Interest for industrial properties is recovering in Central and Eastern Europe as well to some extent. - commented Gábor Borbély, CEE Research Analyst at CBRE. “Last quarter Poland registered a large portfolio sale while a distribution centre was traded in Zagreb, Croatia. Volumes were double the average deal size in the region. Similar large logistic transaction took place in Hungary a year ago for the last time.”

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Hotel profits in Hamburg and Madrid soared in May thanks to the cities hosting two separate soccer cup finals, according to the latest HotStats survey from TRI Hospitality Consulting.

In Hamburg, the location for the first ever Europa cup final, Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) levels in the city grew by 11.7% to €93.15 despite an overall decline in room occupancy of 3.4 percentage points. Causing the rise in RevPAR was a 16.9% increase in achieved average room rate, equivalent to a year-on-year growth of €18.04.

The Europa Cup, contested between Fulham and Atletico Madrid, drew a crowd of 49,000 to the HSH Nordbank Arena in Hamburg boosting the rate achieved in the non-discounted rack rate market segment by 33.6% to €145.46 in May, as hoteliers seized the opportunity presented by extremely high demand levels. As a result, achieved average room rate for the month was approximately 14% above the rolling 12 month average at €124.98.

Equally impressive was the performance of the Madrid hotel market. Hotels in the Spanish capital, which hosted the Champions League Final, were better positioned to take advantage of the demand from German and Italian visitors taking extended weekend breaks as the match was scheduled on a Saturday night. With a crowd of more than 73,000 supporting Bayern Munich and Inter Milan on the night, room occupancy levels in the city were 10.6 percentage points higher than during the same period in 2009. In addition, average room rate levels in the city grew by 13.1% to €145.44 resulting in an overall RevPAR increase of 31%.

Due to the significant increase in rooms revenue, payroll levels were far improved in Hamburg, by 4.0 percentage points to 28.6% of total revenue; and Madrid, by 6.6 percentage points to 32.3% of total revenue. The strong headline performance levels alongside significant cost savings resulted in an increase in Gross Operating Profit per Available Room (GOPPAR) of 33.4% in Hamburg and 62.8% in Madrid.
#break#“We have highlighted the impact of major events on hotel performance in the past, but such events are even more important at the moment, if only to distract hoteliers from the wider issues in the market. Looking at the year to date figures for 2010, both Hamburg and Madrid are now showing a positive set of results with growth in profitability firmly back on the agenda” commented Jonathan Langston, managing director, TRI Hospitality Consulting.

Increases in hotel supply and depreciating market conditions forced hotels in Prague and Budapest to engage in further price reductions in May in order to drive room occupancy, according to the latest HotStats survey.

This strategy has been successful in Budapest where room occupancy has grown by 11.7 percentage points to 72.7% but only at the expense of average room rate, which declined a further 13.4% last month following a 10.2% decline in May 2009. That said, as a result of these measures, RevPAR in the Budapest hotel market increased by 3.1% to €68.36. In contrast, whilst it appears that a similar strategy has been adopted in Prague, it has not been executed with the same level of success. Although a 14.7% sacrifice in room rate resulted in an 8.5 percentage point increase in room occupancy to 78.4%, it was not enough to grow yield and the city ended the month with a year-on-year RevPAR decline of 4.3% to €72.82.

London performs well but Rome and Paris are better
Not surprisingly, following an achieved average room occupancy of 85.7% in May 2009, London hoteliers were unable to increase the volume of accommodated roomnights in the same month in 2010 and room occupancy remained stable at 85.5%. That said, average room rate in London grew by an impressive 7.8% to €164.74 and as a result, RevPAR grew by 7.6% to €140.83.

However, with the inclusion of the premium-rated Rome and the strong performance of Paris during the French Open, London has been pushed down to third place in the latest HotStats survey.

There were nine days of play in the French Open in May and as a result RevPAR in the city was 16.3 % above the rolling 12 month average at €159.72. Despite a decline in both room occupancy and average room rate, RevPAR in the Italian capital remained at €178.28, more than 20% above London.

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Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, announces today that it has been appointed as preferred bidder by Oldham Council for their Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, which is worth up to £175 million.

This BSF Programme involves the delivery of new buildings and upgrades to eight of the Borough’s schools, a pupil referral unit and the construction of a new school in Chadderton. The initial phase of construction, which will commence in January 2011, will involve the delivery of the new-build Oldham Roman Catholic School at its new site and the partial rebuild and remodelling of North Chadderton School. Upgrades, expansions and new buildings for the other schools will commence between 2012 and 2014, with all construction work completed by 2015.

All construction and facilities management will be carried out by Balfour Beatty. ICT services across all the schools will be delivered in conjunction with Northgate, a leading provider of ICT educational solutions.

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At the beginning of May, DTZ was appointed by Macquarie Capital Funds (Europe) Limited to provide property and asset management services for 5 retail properties in Poland which exceed a total area of 300,000 sq m. After taking over the new portfolio on 1 July, DTZ is now the largest independent property management firm in Poland with 33 properties under management, of which 16 are shopping centers, with a total managed space surpassing 1.5 million sq m.

The shopping centers are dispersed throughout Poland and are located in the following cities; Szczecin, Wroclaw, Katowice, Gliwice and Kraków. All of them represent modern retail space, attractive from both tenants’ and clients’ point of view. All are characterised by convenient access by both by public transportation and private cars.

Centrum Handlowe Turzyn in Szczecin, opened in 2001, is a dual shopping gallery with 2 levels of covered car parking comprising 810 parking places. Among the anchors is Carrefour accompanied by 81 stores of a total space of almost 27,000 sq m.

Centrum Handlowe Borek in Wroclaw was opened in October 1999 and is a single level shopping gallery with a small mezzanine area and large car park with 1,223 parking places. Apart from Carrefour, there are 75 stores of a total leasable space exceeding 32,000 sq m.

Centrum Handlowe Dabrówka in Katowice was also opened in October 1999 and is a single level shopping gallery with a large car park for 1,040 cars. The total leasable space exceeds 23,000 sq m and again Carrefour is the anchor, accompanied by 23 smaller stores.

Centrum Handlowe Arena in Gliwice was opened in September 2006 and is a single level shopping gallery with a large car park for 1,350 cars. The total leasable space of 25,000 sq m comprises a Carrefour hypermarket and 76 stores.

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Helios and Echo Investment have signed an agreement that increases the number of cinema auditoriums and the lease area of the cinema complex in the newly built Galeria Amber shopping and entertainment centre in Kalisz.

Having considered the possibilities of the Kalisz market, Helios has made a decision about increasing its complex in our centre. Helios in Galeria Amber will be a 9-screen cinema centre, which will certainly come up to expectations of the town residents. We have also come across opinions of other tenants who are very interested in this market and see a lot of potential in it. The expectations of the market turned out to be higher than we had expected, which we are very glad about,” says Marcin Materny, Director of the Shopping Centre Department at Echo Investment.

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On September 1, 2010, Mr Taco de Groot MRE MRICS (47) will join VastNed Management, managing director of both VastNed Retail and VastNed Offices/Industrial, as a managing director and Chief Investment Officer. The appointment is subject to the customary condition precedent of approval from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets.

Mr De Groot has extensive experience of the international property sector. He has worked as a letting agent and investment broker with DTZ Zadelhoff, was Chief Executive Officer with Cortona Holdings and founder and Chief Investment Officer of GPT Halverton. Most recently, Mr De Groot was a partner with property consultants MSeven Real Estate.

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