Justificación de la pertinencia de la norma

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Macroeconomic environment

The global economic downturn intensified in the last quarter of 2008, as the turmoil in the financial markets increased again and its effects encroached on the real economy. On the other hand, inflationary pressure has eased globally due to the big drop in commodity prices and lower worldwide demand. Since the middle of 2008, the German economy has also been feeling the adverse effects of the increasingly gloomy world economy and the intensifying crisis in the international financial markets to an ever greater extent.

Whereas the number of unemployed fell to a seasonally-adjusted 3.15 million people in November 2008, the economic crisis now has a firm hold on the labour market as well. The number of unemployed people rose to 3.49 million in January 2009, thus raising the rate of unemployment to 8.3%. In the face of the economic crisis, the European Central Bank (ECB) decided at the beginning of December 2008 to reduce the eurozone base rate by a hitherto un-precedented 0.75 percentage points to 2.5%. At a subsequent meeting in the middle of January 2009, the ECB further reduced the base rate to 2.0%.

The economic prospects for the German economy in 2009 have deteriorated considerably in view of the accelerating downturn. Economic forecasts have become increasingly pes- simistic. Thus, the Kiel Institute for the World Economy is expecting German gross domestic product to contract by 2.7%. A recovery with slight growth is only expected in 2010, whereby it is assumed that by then the international financial crisis will be surmounted.

General situation in the property market in Germany

Market for retail properties

In spite of the financial crisis, recession and bad news from other industries, the retail trade largely performed well in 2008. Thus, retail companies were able to increase their turnover by 1.9% to 2.4% nominally on the previous year (minus 0.5% in real terms) according to latest estimates from the German Federal Statistical Office.

We expect that disposable income will increase slightly in 2009 in view of rising wages and monetary social security benefits and in spite of job cuts; that consumer prices will develop considerably below the growth rate of 2008 and that, as a result, personal consumer spend- ing will remain steady in 2009 compared with the previous year. Developments in the labour market will be crucial.

General economic conditions

Management report: As the operating activities of the Group essentially consist of those of HAMBORNER AG, use was made in this management report of the relief option of Art. 315 Para 3 of the German Commercial Code [HGB], according to which the management report of the Group and of the parent company of HAMBORNER AG may be consolidated. Accordingly, the consolidated financial statements and the annual financial statements of the public limited company are jointly disclosed. If figures are commented on, which differ in the consolidated financial statements from those of the annual financial statements of the public limited company, reference is clearly made to which set of figures the respective figures relate. Otherwise, statements are deemed to apply to both the Group and the parent company.

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Retail space continues to grow in Germany, although moderately. This growth in space has led to increasingly heightened competition. It is to be expected that many establishments which were carried out solely for the purposes of securing a location and displacement will not be sustainably successful. There is a trend towards large outlets across all sectors. Due to nominally rising retail sales, productivity levels per space will not fall further in the medium-term but rather will stabilise despite further growth in space.

Concentration in the German retail trade continues to increase so that the lion’s share of the market is held by a low number of businesses. The most significant changes in 2008 took place in German food retailing. Thus, the German monopolies commission approved the takeover of the Plus supermarket chain by EDEKA subsidiary Netto in July 2008. On the acquisitions side, the REWE Group was also successful with its takeover of the “extra“ discount stores from the METRO Group.

Discounters were able to increase their market shares further, even if growth rates were lower. The traditional, non-chain speciality shops, whose market share again fell consider- ably in 2008, still have structural difficulties. Department stores and emporia once again suffered losses in market share, as highlighted by the recent insolvencies of Wehmeyer, Hertie and SinnLeffers.

The letting market for retail premises in premium locations lost momentum somewhat in 2008. Nevertheless, successful retailers with a good credit rating and innovative con- cepts continue to drive on their expansion notwithstanding, focusing on first-class shopping streets. Competition for retail premises falling vacant remains high due to the short supply of space. The textile trade remains the most important interested party by far for retail premises on Germany‘s shopping streets. The losers in this trend are, once again, the non-premium and ancillary sites. Because of low demand, permanent vacancies may be expected at such second-class locations even in the event of sustained good economic development.

Rent increases in Germany‘s most important shopping locations in 2008 can be described as moderate.

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Market for office space

The effects of the financial market crisis and the continuing poor prospects for macro- economic development in 2009 adversely affected the German office markets in 2008. According to the leading brokers, in the nine most important German office locations of Berlin, Dusseldorf, Essen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Leipzig, Munich and Stuttgart, approximately 3.5 million m² of office space were transacted in 2008, 5% less than in 2007. Nevertheless, the result was the third-best on record. Still on a record-breaking course up to the middle of 2008, German office letting markets were then hit by the financial crisis in the second half of the year. With the exception of Cologne (take-up approximately 290,000 m², plus 5%), Leipzig (approxi- mately 89,000 m², plus 1%) and Stuttgart (approximately 189,000 m², plus 18%), the take-up in the “Big Nine“ decreased. The biggest take-up was achieved once again in Munich with approximately 786,000 m² (minus 6%), followed by Frankfurt with approximately 566,000 m² (minus 10%) and Hamburg with approximately 544,000 m² (minus 4%).

Viewed across all “Big Nine” locations, vacancies have reduced by almost 320,000 m² in 2008 to a good 8.4 million m² (minus 3.7%) at present.

With the exception of Berlin, Frankfurt and Leipzig, prime rents in the “Big Nine“ rose by approximately 4% on average last year. The 10% increase in Munich turned out to be the most striking, raising current prices to a good € 34/m².

Larger, modern spaces in the top locations are still in short supply in many places. Nor will this situation change significantly during 2009. At the same time, the financing of new projects is proving difficult, so that even a medium-term surplus of new, modern spaces is not very likely.

Situation in the property investment market in Germany

Investment turnover registered nationwide in 2008 for commercial properties was approxi- mately 65% below the record result of the previous year, at almost € 20.7 billion, according to figures from Germany’s leading brokers. In the six most important German investment loca- tions of Berlin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne and Munich, a transaction volume of a good € 9.2 billion was recorded, which corresponds to a drop of approximately 70% compared with 2007.

The global recession practically brought the German investment market to a standstill in the last few months of the year 2008. The greatly reduced volume of transactions is attributable less to a lack of buyer interest than to the current, almost complete absence of financing options.

Almost 64% of commercial investment turnover in 2008 was apportioned to individual trans- actions, whereas only 36% was invested in portfolios. This demonstrates that buyers are once again focusing more on the quality of properties, while the quantity approach of pur- chasing as much property as possible is now taking a back seat.

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The spotlight was on both retail trade properties with a total turnover of a good € 7.2 billion (approximately 35%) and office buildings, in which approximately € 6.9 billion was invested (approximately 33%). At around € 1.9 billion, a good 9% of the transaction volume was appor- tioned to logistics properties.

The share of foreign investors has decreased further in 2008 and now stands at only around 57%. In the case of individual transactions, German buyers are once again already the big- gest group of investors at 56%. It may be seen that investors with sufficient equity capital, such as open-ended funds, insurers, pension funds and private individuals are increasingly pressing to the fore, with the result that speculative investments are losing ground.

After the prime yields for German top office properties had fallen almost to the level of large European metropolises in 2007, since this low they rose by between 50 and 105 basis points, bringing yields back up to the 5% mark in Germany’s six most important investment markets. As a result, the average level of the past 20 years has once again been achieved. Yields on commercial buildings in premium locations in pedestrian zones have largely remained stable, given that such buildings are highly inflation-proof and uniquely sited.

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