Huge retail real estate need In Berlin

Published: April 28th, 2014

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Harald Huth purchased the former Wertheim department store in Berlin planning to provide 200 shops.

Three years and a billion Euros later, he is on his way to opening the biggest shopping centre in Germany with 270 stores, Bloomberg says.

This is an indication of the emergence of Berlin as a shopping destination where stores cannot be built fast enough.

Berlin’s retail sales have increased by 5.8% in a year after an inflation adjustment. Prime retail rents have increased by 13% during 2013. These gains are in sharp contrast with the city’s purchasing power, which 50% below Munich’s and 30% below that of Frankfurt.

There are still some real estate investors who are sceptical about the city, although its population and the tourism rate have grown exponentially. The CEO of Euroshop, Claus-Matthias Boege, said that Berlin has many people, however they do not have wealth. He said that it is a city of civil servants, lobbyists and artists and that is not where the economic power of Germany comes from.

Huth however is set to take advantage of the tourist number increase in the city.

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