PBSA in Germany: €1.5bn in new commitments as transactions replace announcements

Germany has 2.9 million university students, one of Europe's most severe shortages of purpose-built accommodation, and the most sought-after operational real estate segment among institutional investors. And yet German PBSA transactions stagnated at around €70 million in both 2023 and 2024. That gap between desire and delivery has been one of the more persistent puzzles of the European property market. But something is now changing — and this time there are actual deals to prove it.

In recent weeks, JP Morgan Asset Management has announced a €1.5 billion joint venture with German micro-apartment specialist iLive, with initial sites secured in Frankfurt and Berlin for around 1,000 beds. BGO has acquired its first German PBSA asset, a 153-unit property in central Cologne. Trammell Crow has launched a Germany-wide development strategy. And Omniliv, a new platform backed by PGIM and led by veteran operator Rainer Nonnengässer, has begun converting obsolete offices to student accommodation in Berlin and Frankfurt. Meanwhile, Brookfield's long-running sale of International Campus — 7,630 apartments including 4,480 German student beds — is reportedly nearing a conclusion, with three bidders in contention for a portfolio valued at between €1.5 billion and €1.8 billion.