Real Estate Finance and Real Estate Customers

With a total financing volume of more than € 8.5 bn and a market share of some 30%, BA-CA is the market leader in the large-volume real estate business.

In commercial real estate business BA-CA introduced an innovative real estate transaction rating: as the first institution in Austria to apply such a rating, we are in a position to evaluate individual projects more precisely and offer more differentiated and fairer loan pricing.

With respect to new business, which increased by some 15%, the share of the transaction volume in CEE and SEE widened substantially. In 2005 we aim to provide access to markets in CEE and SEE to an even larger number of Austrian real estate customers. Almost 30% of the project volume of € 1.7 bn in the pipeline relates to projects in CEE or SEE. High-profile projects in 2004 included the modernisation of the “City Empiria” office tower in the Pankrác district of Prague, which we financed with € 47 m, as well as the Plaza Romania Commercial Center developed by the Anchor Group in Bucharest, for which we provided finance in the amount of € 45 m.

Volume development in subsidised real estate financing was very satisfactory in 2004. Housing companies stepped up investments in residential renovation, which enabled us to increase our financing volume in this business segment by an above-average rate of 30% year on year. All in all, we co-funded the construction and renovation of more than 10,000 residential units.

BA-CA Real Invest: Die M·A·I·L Finanzberatung and BA-CA ImmoTrust joined forces in summer 2004 under the new brand name BA-CA Real Invest. BA-CA Real Invest is the centre of competence for real estate investment within the Group. The Real Invest Austria mutual fund, Austria’s first open-ended real estate fund, had placed a volume of € 191 m in the Austrian market by the end of 2004.

BA-CA Wohnbaubank: Die BA-CA Wohnbaubank once again attained an excellent result in 2004 with € 618 m in new issues placed. The full amount was immediately made available for the refinancing of housing construction and renovation projects at low interest rates. The total volume of securities issued increased by 25% and reached a volume of more than € 3 bn.

Once again, the main features of the real estate market in the CEE accession countries in 2004 were rising real estate prices and falling rents. In South-East Europe, by contrast, the market is characterised by a growing number of real estate developments. In this environment, the CEE Real Estate Finance department specialised in selective targeting of financing opportunities.

The entire real estate financing field is likely to focus much more strongly on the arranger function in future. In 2003 we started to participate in designing theme and special funds, an approach we plan to continue with a focus on creating instruments for leveraging an anti-cyclical investment approach.