Effects of COVID-19 on selected real estate markets

Ongoing travel and contact restrictions, starting in the spring of 2020, have hit retailers, restaurants, hotels and office providers hard – and thus owners and landlords of these spaces. Recovery does not appear to be in sight over the short term, and the outlook for individual sectors varies widely.

In the non-food retail sector, most forecasts assume that space will decline – and will therefore have to be reallocated in the medium term. In the hotel segment, opportunities are opening up for investors with strong liquidity and hotel chains to take over shares of the market now at favorable prices. While offices are less in demand but tend to remain stable in terms of price due to advance contracts, co-working spaces, as lockdown losers from the change in the working world, could now become profiteers: with flexible rental times, office sizes and additional bookable services, they make an interesting offer for the hybrid working world. A detailed quantitative market analysis and interpretation of the market trends can be found in our study.