German housing activity picking up as institutions review - Patrizia's Fischer

German housing activity has picked up quite fast since the year's start, with private buyers reacting to historically low financing rates, but institutions are still completing review processes before investing again, says the Chief Financial Officer of the Augsburg listed group Patrizia. In an exclusive interview with PIE, Arwed Fischer also said that Patrizia, which owns 12,000 and manages 20,000 German residential units, made a substantial e530m two-year credit refinancing earlier this year partly to stem market doubts about its financial situation in the economic crisis. "Real estate companies throughout Europe, and certainly in Germany have been thrown into crisis by the perception of the high amount of debt on books but investors have not differentiated between the quality of the product and firms' strategies," Fischer told PIE. "If you look at annual results, several firms had to depreciate portfolios and only a few others, of which Patrizia was one, did not make any devaluations at all."