Has the Worst Been Overcome?

The German Real Estate Financing Index (DIFI) of ZEW Mannheim and JLL rises again, but remains in negative territory at minus 36 points. After a slight decline in the sentiment indicator at the beginning of the year (by minus 3.7 points) to minus 18.9 points, and a plunge of 37.8 points in the second quarter to an index level of minus 56.7 points, the DIFI has now improved by more than 20 points in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter. At present, however, the indicator continues to remain below the values registered since the the survey began in 2011.

Responses from the interviewed experts (investors, credit institutions and consulting firms) resulted in an assumed improvement of almost all partial balances for the individual types of use, both for the financing situation (situation assessment of the past six months) and for the financing expectations for the coming six months. In the previous quarter, there was a significant deterioration for all of them. These are the key findings of the DIFI Report, a quarterly survey on the commercial real estate financing market in Germany carried out by ZEW in cooperation with JLL.