Berlin residential privatization specialist Accentro has embarked on a very different course since the start of the lockdown last year and the arrival of Lars Schriewer as new CEO, replacing long-term boss Jacopo Mingazzini, at pretty much the same time.
The listed Accentro had long been focused on privatizing residential properties in its home base of Berlin, but is now transforming itself by expanding its holdings, moving out more aggressively beyond Berlin and increasing its exposure to the international capital markets. In particular, the classic direct sales approach to private residential investors was immediately threatened during the first lockdown by the effective inability to show properties, with an average value of €360,000, to potential investors.
This has traditionally been Accentro’s bread-and-butter business – retailing condominiums from its proprietary portfolio to owner-ocuppiers and buy-to-let investors, or bundled-up into portfolios for sale to institutional investors.
Nonetheless, the market for residential properties has held up remarkably well through the COVID-19 crisis. Accentro has been actively promoting sales through advanced virtual visits, and has made up much of the lost ground of the early months of the pandemic. Since July sales have been going up steadily, and the company has increased its workforce from 60 to 80 employees.
The company recently more than doubled its residential holdings to 5,600 units with a significant new acquisition of 2,800 residential units, including 11 commercial units, with a gross lettable area of 180,000 sqm. The properties are located across eastern Germany, mainly in inner-city locations in Berlin, Leipzig, Halle and Gera.
Presenting Accentro’s 3rd quarter figures recently, CEO Schriewer said: "Demand for residential real estate in Germany remains strong among both private and institutional investors. It is not just the increasing momentum in individual privatization that makes us optimistic about the fourth quarter, but also our advanced negotiations with institutional investors on the sale to us of real estate portfolios.” The firm also said that it is planning to expand its portfolio – currently focused on Berlin and eastern Germany, also to the North Rhine-Westphalia, the Rhine-Main region and Bavaria regions, where it already owns properties.
In another big move, Accentro is also buying Deutsche Immobilien Management (DIM) Holding, a €2.8bn German residential and commercial real estate manager. DIM has 130 employees and seven offices, and manages assets with a total area of 1.4 million sqm across 18,500 residential units.
CEO Schriewer said: “We intend to gradually increase the number of properties owned by Accentro and thus become a long-term lessor irrespective of our privatisation portfolio. With this in mind, it makes sense to have a property manager on hand who acts as on-site caretaker and trouble-shooter with knowledge of the local market, close contact to tenants and in-depth technical knowledge of the managed real estate.”
