Press release

Despite coronavirus crisis: Real estate remains most popular form of investment

• Security more important than return with investment decisions – and especially after the lockdown
• Real estate more popular than stocks and shares, gold or life insurance policies
• Indirect investment an attractive alternative to a direct purchase, above all open-ended funds

56 per cent of the population believe that real estate is a sensible capital investment for the formation of private wealth. This was one of the results of a representative survey of around 2,000 German citizens by the opinion research institute YouGov commissioned by Commerz Real in June 2020. In a comparable survey in February 2020, before the lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus, 51 per cent had said this was the case. Accordingly, less attractive are gold (38 per cent in June, 34 per cent in February), stocks and shares (32 per cent in June, 35 per cent in February) and life insurance policies (18 per cent in June, 16 per cent in February).

For 49 per cent, somewhat more than before the coronavirus crisis (45 per cent), real estate is above all a safe investment. This is followed by the properties “crisis-proof” (34 per cent / 30 per cent), “suitable for developing wealth” (30 per cent / 31 per cent) and “protected against inflation” (24 per cent / 22 per cent). In contrast, a good return is only regarded by 21 per cent as a benefit when making an investment decision (February: 20 per cent).

While many regard the necessary high degree of equity capital (49 per cent), the indebtedness (37 per cent) and the financial burden arising from the repayment of the loan (34 per cent) to be a hurdle with a direct purchase, indirect real estate investments – be this in the form of real estate funds, shares in real estate companies, shares in real estate investment trusts or even crowd-investing – are an attractive alternative for a total of 41 per cent of the respondents (43 per cent in February). With 15 per cent open-ended real estate funds are still regarded as the most attractive form of investment.