What is real estate speculation?

In Frankfurt there have been more and more high-rise project developments in recent years that are started without an anchor tenant. These projects include, for example

• TaunusTurm by Tishman Speyer
• ONE by CA Immo
• Global Tower by GEG German Real Estate Group
  
• Marienturm by Pekan Development sowie das
•  FOUR Frankfurt by Gross & Partner.

The trend towards speculative project developments could also have something to do with Brexit.

Private investors in Germany usually ignore speculation because profits from the sale are taxable. Profits are viewed with the individual tax rate of the student. This tax rate is usually higher than the final withholding tax, which regulates the taxation of profits in other asset classes. Capital gains can only be collected tax-free after a holding period of 10 years. This long period is intended to inhibit speculation, since speculations usually act on a short-term basis. Institutional investors, such as open-ended real estate funds, are also subject to this speculation period.

Basically, speculation on the real estate market on a large scale is not wanted for various reasons and can lead to lasting distortions in the macroeconomic context. Price bubbles that arise in the course of great speculative activity can cause prices to fall and thus private households to become overindebted. In the end, a collapse of commercial investors is also to be feared. Both developments lead to a decline in economic growth.

This is why real estate in Germany is generally considered to be a long-term investment with a real asset character. A continuous price development on the real estate market reflects this assessment.