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German real estate fund manager Commerz Real said it has leased a record 300,000 m² of office, retail, and logistics space so far this year despite the difficult market situation.

'High-end properties benefit more than other real estate from what moderate demand for rental space the present environment generates,' said Commerz
Real board member Hans-Joachim Kühl. 'The high level of interest shown toward our properties testifies to the great quality of our assets, and confirms the sound orientation of our investment policy.'

The 'hausInvest' funds accounted for about 50% of the take-up, and the institutional funds for another 30%. The remaining share is spread across other investment products. Regarding types of use, the focus was on office real estate with about half of all lease agreements, followed by logistics and retail space.

The third quarter saw an increase in the number of large volume transactions. These involved particularly the hausInvest europa open-ended real estate fund. Privately owned Swiss bank Credit Suisse expanded its rental space at Junghof Plaza in Frankfurt by another 5,000 m² to a total of now 15,000 m². The idea is to merge all of the bank’s Frankfurt offices in this prominent building, which was raised in 2003 in a prime location in the Frankfurt CBD.

Also signed was a premature lease renewal for premises of about 7,000 m² at the Japan Tower, which is located close to Taunustor and not far from Junghof Plaza. Here, one of the world's biggest consulting firms secured rental space through June 2017.

Other lease renewals were negotiated outside Germany. In the Milan metropolitan area, the company ABB, an energy and automation technology leader, extended the lease for its Italian headquarters of 27,000 m² through June 2016.

A new lease was signed in the Netherlands, where we let nearly 8,000 m² in office space in Utrecht to an internationally active corporate consulting firm.