Slight Downward Trend in Commercial Real Estate Financing
DIFI Report by ZEW and JLL
The fourth quarter of 2019 saw the German Real Estate Financing Index (DIFI) of ZEW and JLL deteriorate again slightly by 4.4 points to minus 15.2 points, the reason being the clearly negative assessment of the financing situation in the past six months despite an improved assessment of financing expectations. Experts remain sceptical about economic developments and global uncertainties such as Brexit and various ongoing trade disputes.
Survey participants were also asked about the effects of global trends (including urbanisation, climate protection, and digitalisation) on future real estate financing. According to the survey results, climate protection will have a particularly large impact on financing conditions in all asset classes. 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.
The German Real Estate Finance Index (DIFI)
The German Real Estate Finance Index (DIFI) reflects survey participants’ assessment of the current situation (including the previous six months) of and expectations (for the coming six months) for the commercial real estate financing market. It is conducted on a quarterly basis and calculated as the average value of the balances between the following segments: office, retail, logistics, residential properties and hotels. The balance for each segment is the difference between the percentage of participants who are optimistic and the percentage of participants who are pessimistic about the current state and future development of financing conditions in the German real estate market. The DIFI is a survey conducted and published by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) and the ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research. 25 experts participated in the October/November 2019 survey.
