- EUR 1.3 billion in transaction volume for the full year 2024 — a 10 percent increase year-on-year
- Deals with operator-free properties dominate
- Prime yields remain steady at 5.50 per cent
Cushman & Wakefield, one of the world’s largest real estate consultancies, recorded a total transaction volume of EUR 1.3 billion in the German hotel segment , representing a 10 percent increase compared to the previous year. Despite this growth, the transaction volume remained around 60 per cent below the 10-year average. Among the largest transactions of the year were the sale of Accor Invest's hotel portfolio to BC Partners Real Estate in the portfolio segment and the sale of the Rocco Forte Hotel in Berlin in the single asset transactions segment.
The following sales were among the largest transactions in Q4 2024, which recorded the second-highest quarterly volume of the year at EUR 360 million:
- The sale of the 293-room Le Meridien Hotel Stuttgart to a joint venture between HWS Immobilien und Vermögensverwaltung GmbH and the hotel operator MHP Hotel AG. The seller was Union Investment.
- The sale of the Moxy Hotel in I/D Cologne with 222 rooms by Art-Invest Real Estate and Osmab Holding. Strabag Hold Estate thus completed its first acquisition, alongside the simultaneous purchase of a Moxy Hotel in Vienna.
- In addition, a portfolio of four B&B Hotels was sold by Covivio to Art-Invest.
2024 at a glance:
- Prime yields for hotel investments remained unchanged at 5.50 per cent throughout the year.
- Nearly half (EUR 600 million, 46 per cent) of the transaction volume was attributed to foreign investors
- The ratio of portfolio to single-asset transactions for the full year was 1:3, meaning that only around 25 per cent of the investment volume came from portfolio sales. In Q4, single-asset transactions accounted for almost 87 per cent of the quarterly volume.
- The majority of the 2024 investment volume (around two-thirds) was generated in the top 7 markets.
Christine Mayer, Head of Hotel Valuation Germany & Austria at Cushman & Wakefield, on the outlook for the investment market: ‘In addition to the operator-free sales and operator takeovers by owner-operators that dominated the first three quarters, there was an increase in transactions involving existing operator agreements in the final quarter of 2024. The noticeable increase in transaction activity since the beginning of 2024 has recently slowed slightly, possibly in anticipation of a decline in yield requirements as a consequence of the latest ECB interest rate cuts. As in previous quarters, single-asset transactions continued to dominate the fourth quarter.’
