German office values in 3Q09 show first rise in two years - Jones Lang LaSalle's VICTOR index

Average values in prime office real estate in the Big Five cities in Germany rose in the third quarter of the year by 0.3%, and showed a slight improvement for the first time since 3Q07, the start of the general downturn amid the global economic crisis, according to the latest VICTOR index from realtor Jones Lang LaSalle. The rise, which took the third reading of the newly-introduced indicator up to 99.2 points, "will be welcome news to the majority of market participants in the top office locations of Germany," commented Andrew Groom, Director of Valuation Advisory at JLL Germany. "Even if the valuation increases in total were only very marginal, many factors now indicate that we are approaching a turnround in the prime segment of the market, perhaps even that we have passed that point already." Frankfurt office showed the strongest improvement over 2Q09. (For full story see upcoming PFE/PIE editions)