Germany’s Second-Quarter Commercial Property Financing Sentiment Deteriorates Sharply

German commercial property financiers’ confidence deteriorated sharply in the second quarter, a survey released on Monday showed, citing rising inflation and higher interest rates linked to the Iran war. According to Jin10, a BF.direkt survey showed its business climate index plunged to -25.97 from -9.74 in the first quarter, indicating extremely limited willingness to provide financing. Steffen Sebastian, the survey’s academic adviser, said the shift was mainly attributable to the Iran war and its effects. He said energy price shocks had pushed up inflation, which in turn intensified market concerns about rising interest rates. Sebastian added that the developments were hitting an industry that had already been fragile since interest rates rose sharply in 2022. After the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Germany’s commercial property prices fell at one point. Prices later rebounded, but the recovery was slow. More than 46% of respondents said financing conditions had worsened.