News & Stories
The insolvency of Vienna-based Signa Holding has shaken the real estate and financial sector far beyond the country's borders. It could even become the largest corporate bankruptcy in Austria's history. But it is also about the future of cities that rely on investors like Renée Benko to lure department stores and hotels.
Globally and across all asset classes, the value of property has fallen by 50%. Nevertheless, some regions are maintaining their leading position despite the fall. The decline in the hotel industry was less dramatic.
Negotiators from the European Parliament and the EU member states agreed yesterday evening on stricter requirements for the energy efficiency of buildings in the fight against climate change.
It is one of the biggest hotel deals in Europe this year: LXi REIT announced that it is selling 66 of its 122 Travelodge hotel properties for a total of £210mn (€242mn). The sale has not yet been finalised. At the same time, Travelodge itself is about to be sold.
A lack of authority and resources, sluggish communication, impatience and a failure to achieve goals: digitalisation in real estate companies often fails due to the same stumbling blocks.
The market for commercial real estate has slumped dramatically in Germany this year. This also makes appraisals increasingly difficult: Reference values are missing. For hotels too, prospective buyers are still waiting sellers to adjust their asking prices. Valuation expert Birger Ehrenberg views the current panic mood from a healthy distance.
The (EU) standards and definitions for sustainable hotel properties and their financing are made in London. Ufi Ibrahim founded the Energy & Environment Alliance (EEA) in October 2020 in London, which is a pool of dedicated hotel investors, operators, banks and lawyers today. They all want to collaborate, they want to protect their assets from stranding.
Germany is no digital country and will not manage to change this in the near future. After just under half of its term in office, the current government has completed only 38 of 334 digital policy projects. And now the government is also cutting the digital budget for the administration for 2024 - to a meagre 3.3 million euros. The real estate sector, however, is pursuing its digital path.
Project developers are in crisis mode. Insolvencies are setting in, all asset classes are suffering. Everything is failing due to financing. New buildings will probably not be built again until 2025. Right now, everything is confusing, the uncertainty is huge. Hotels are also suffering, but (still) less. Hotel experts, B&B, Radisson and Dorint Hotels report.
Financing bottlenecks, difficult pricing, continuing volatility: The transaction volume on the German hotel real estate market is stuck in the crisis despite good operating sales. Slight movement can be seen in the holiday hotel industry. The brokerage and consulting companies draw a sobering balance for the first half of 2023, but do not give up.