Transparency in the German real estate market

Abstract

PurposeGerman real estate markets used to show little transparency in the past. This has changed over the last 15 years. The purpose of this study therefore is to examine the current state of transparency.Design/methodology/approachThe study investigates and discusses the concept of transparency in general, availability of private and public market data, major real estate investment products, performance measurement, changes in the regulatory environment and the emergence of organizations and publications. The findings of this study are obtained in a comparative manner: The transparency status of the 1990s in the different areas researched is compared to the current German and other international standards. The authors describe the relatively opaque German real estate market as it was at the beginning of the 1990s and show how it has improved to date.FindingsThe results show that transparency in the German real estate market has noticeably improved in all researched areas. But still, compared with the USA or the UK, the German real estate industry and real estate market still lack transparency and are characterized by information asymmetries and opaqueness.Originality/valueThe results indicate that the German real estate market and industry become more mature and bit by bit converge with their US and UK archetype.