German property financier Berlin Hyp said Pfandbrief issues with a total volume of EUR 742 mln in the first half of 2009 have provided it with a comfortable level of liquidity that will enable it to assert itself on the market, even under conditions of a sustained economic downturn.
German property financier Berlin Hyp said Pfandbrief issues with a total volume of EUR 742 mln in the first half of 2009 have provided it with a comfortable level of liquidity that will enable it to assert itself on the market, even under conditions of a sustained economic downturn.
The bank, part of the real estate finance division of Landesbank Berlin, said that further Pfandbrief issues to the tune of EUR 580 mln in July mean it will not have to seek recourse to the state bank-rescue fund Soffin.
Berlin Hyp said first-half pre-tax profits rose 12.2% to EUR 32.2 mln compared with the year-earlier period, while net income increased to EUR 23.9 mln from EUR 22.4 mln. Overall, the bank recorded an operating result before risk provisions of EUR 70.9 mln, down from EUR 75.5 mln a year earlier.
However, the bank warned that the negative effects of the current economic crisis are increasingly coming to bear on the German real estate market. 'Following the massive collapse in its transaction volumes in 2008, this trend has continued in 2009. As a result of cautious sales activities at the end of 2008, Berlin Hyp had a relatively low volume of credit applications in the processing and decision phase in the first quarter of 2009,' it said.
Jan Bettink, management board chairman, commented: 'Only with the clear easing of the situation on the Pfandbrief market at the start of 2009 have we begun to significantly step up our sales activities once again. The market is beginning to pick up pace again, albeit slowly.'
