BERLIN, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Investments in German real estate by the end of third quarter of 2018 have fallen by around 3 billion euros (3.42 billion U.S. dollars) to 65 billion euros over the past year, a study by the auditing and consulting company PwC published on Monday shows.
In Germany, "there are too few assets and they are too expensive," said Susanne Eickermann-Riepe, real estate expert at PwC. "For this reason, Great Britain was able to overtake Germany in the past year in the total volume of investments in spite of the imminent Brexit."
The UK has become Europe's biggest real estate market with an investment volume of 68 billion euros.
According to the study, a looming Brexit was particularly noticeable in the city of Frankfurt with 12.5 percent more money invested in real estate compared to the previous year.
Germany's Helaba bank estimates an influx of bankers from London to Frankfurt, with at least 8,000 additional banking sector employees to move to the city.
With total investments amounting to 8 billion euros, the city that is known as Germany's banking metropolis now ranks third in Europe's top real estate cities, sharing its place with the German capital, Berlin. London and Paris lead the ranking with investments of 20 billion and 12 billion euros respectively.
"Investors currently place great importance on safe investments," PwC expert Eickermann-Riepe emphasized. "German cities benefit from Germany's economic and political stability. Nevertheless, many investors regard Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich as overpriced. The opportunities for truly attractive investments in these cities are becoming increasingly scarce."
