The prices of new luxury apartments in Frankfurt, Germany, have jumped by 25 percent in the past year, according to fresh data, fueled by market hopes that thousands of London bankers will move to the city after Brexit.
The rise puts the price of an upmarket two-bedroom apartment at up to about 1 million euros (US$1.2 million), making the small city, which has struggled with the reputation of being among Germany’s dullest, also one of its most expensive.
Britain’s plan to leave the EU has caused banks and money managers in London to look at moving parts of their business elsewhere to enable them to sell across Europe without additional costs or trade hurdles after Brexit.
Photo: Reuters
Frankfurt and Dublin have emerged as popular choices.
The rise in property prices in Frankfurt, shown in city data comparing the price of newly built apartments in the first six months of this year with a year earlier, comes as Frankfurt prepares to build 20 new skyscrapers within five years to provide offices and apartments.
There are more than 30 high-rise buildings on its skyline.
While a long-running property boom driven by low interest rates has prompted such building, the potential migration of bankers from London has increased investor enthusiasm, and prices, this year.
“We are ready for Brexit,” said Mark Gellert, a spokesman for Frankfurt town hall’s planning division. “We can imagine that the people who come to Frankfurt due to Brexit will take up this offer of high-end apartments.”
The data showed that the price spiral is concentrated on new luxury apartments, while other properties in less fashionable locations remain affordable.
Dublin has also seen house prices jump, by more than 11 percent in the year to June, according to Ireland’s Central Statistics Office.
House prices in London rose by less than 3 percent during the period.
A recent study commissioned by Frankfurt’s chief promoter predicted that there would be 10,000 new bankers in the city within four years and that their arrival could create tens of thousands of additional jobs, from estate agents to building workers.
However, some are skeptical that this will happen.
“You can see the optimism that Frankfurt will profit from Brexit already filtering through in rising property prices,” said Christine Kuhl, a headhunter with Odgers Berndtson in Frankfurt.
However, “the hiring of new staff has yet to start and I don’t expect it until spring next year. Some of the optimism about thousands of extra jobs is also overdone. The real impact of Brexit may be more modest,” Kuhl said.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS