DIFI Report by ZEW and JLL Released – Index in the Positive for the First Time This Year

The German Real Estate Finance Index (DIFI) run by ZEW and JLL climbed 7.3 points in the fourth quarter of 2017 to a current reading of 0.1 points, moving into positive territory for the first time this year. The assessment of the current financing situation for commercial real estate remained almost unchanged at 9.6 points compared to the previous quarter. The improved expectations for financing conditions in the coming six months can be seen in the context of the very positive economic outlook, which has been corrected upwards by various research institutes.

The most significant gains in terms of financing expectations for the next six months were recorded for the logistics, residential and office sectors. Despite these gains, however, the respective balances of optimistic and pessimistic assessments remain below zero, which indicates that expectations are still cautious. The experts’ expectations for retail financing, on the other hand, were similarly restrained as in the previous quarter. The DIFI surveys of the past three quarters have shown stable development for all refinancing markets. 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.