Many of the Irish investors who spent €1.3bn buying into the German commercial property market in 2007 are now contemplating getting some of that money back.

Some find themselves in a situation where they need money to support their Irish business activities. Others have found their German properties onerous, because they lack knowledge of the local language and tax regulations and don’t have the necessary financial and legal resources to make their assets perform.

Irish property and investment consultants Farrelly & Mitchell (F&M), have reduced by €1m the borrowings of one of its investment funds which bought into a retail centre in Roethenbach in Germany.

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Last stand of Berlin’s bohemians

The fight between developers and the defenders of a counterculture landmark is coming to a head.

Khaled Kenawi leans out of the window and surveys the battered concrete, the graffiti-daubed walls, the peeling posters and the teenagers lounging on the ripped-up sofas surrounded by beer bottles. ‘Shutting down all this would be a huge loss,’ he says. ‘There is a difference between the art market and art, and we are that difference.’

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Once it was the Germans who snapped up property in Kerry, but, now the Irish can do the same in the old East German capital, writes Donal Buckley

Irish property investors are being enticed to play a new role in the unification of Germany. Despite the impression that unification took place overnight, with the collapse of the Berlin Wall, many Berliners in the former communist east have yet to readjust to the property owning culture of the west of their country.

Although in terms of politics, easterners may have switched to conservatives such as Chancellor Angel Merkel and the CDU, in terms of owning their own homes, former East Germans, including many with middle class jobs, have proven much slower to accept Western beliefs about the joys of owning their own homes, not to mention those of other people’s. Currently less than 20pc of Berliners own their own home, with the majority of accommodation stock still in state hands.

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Lisney, together with its German partner Kemper’s, have advised Ballymore Properties on the acquisition of a large retail site in Berlin for €155 million.

The retail site, which is known as the Kudamm-Karree, is situated in Germany’s prime retail district Kurfuerstendamm in the centre of Berlin. This site comprises not only retail and offices, but also some residential accommodation and a theatre. It currently has a lettable area of 63,000sq.m.

Ballymore Properties have plans to spend €450million re-developing this two-hectare site. Mike De Mug, Ballymore’s group retail director, said the site the company has acquired “Is one of the best in Berlin. It is an existing retail arcade with two office towers over it, one of which is a landmark building”. Mr Mulryan, Ballymore’s chairman and chief executive, commented “We plan to further develop and enhance the Kudamm-Karee to make it an appealing destination for Berliners and visitors alike”.

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