Purpose This study aims to analyze whether urban tourism affects Berlin housing rents. Urban tourism is of considerable economic importance for many urban destinations and has developed very strongly over the past few years. The prevailing view is that urban tourism triggers side-effects, which affect the urban housing markets through a lack of supply and increasing rents. Berlin represents Germany’s largest rental market and is particularly affected by growing urban tourism and increasing rents. Design/methodology/approach The paper considers whether urban tourism hotspots affect Berlin’s housing rents, using two hedonic regression approaches, namely, conventional ordinary least squares (OLS) and generalized additive models (GAM). The regression models incorporate housing characteristics as well as several distance-based measures. The research considers tourist attractions, restaurants, hotels and holiday flats as constituents of tourism hotspots and is based on a spatial analysis using geographic information systems (GIS). Findings The results can be regarded as a preliminary indication that rents are, indeed, affected by urban tourism. Rents seem to be positively correlated with the touristic attractiveness of a particular location, even if it is very difficult to accurately measure the real quantity of the respective effects of the urban tourism amenities, as the various models show. GAM outperforms the results of OLS and seems to be more appropriate for spatial analysis of rents across a city. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the paper provides the first empirical analysis of the effects of urban tourism hotspots on the Berlin housing market.

Key obstacles to achieving the ambitious decarbonization targets determined in the Paris Agreement include the poor energy efficiency of the European commercial real estate sector and excessively low refurbishments rates due to uncertainty and a lack of transparency regarding future regulatory guidelines. This paper introduces the Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor (CRREM), aimed at accelerating decarbonization and climate change resilience by clearly communicating the downside financial risks associated with poor energy performance buildings, and quantifying the market implications of climate change on the building stock. Science-based emission targets serve as a theoretical foundation for providing the industry with appropriate carbon reduction pathways for particular buildings at the portfolio and company levels. A key outcome of this project is a quantitative and qualitative financial risk assessment tool. The aim is to optimize industry investments in energy-efficient retrofits by making risks more transparent and by revealing opportunities for property owners and investors. The CRREM tool enables the industry to assess stranding risks, accelerating the decarbonization of the EU building stock to “2-degree readiness” (2DR) and make real estate portfolios “future proof.”

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to quantify the impact of 100-year flood risk on both property rents and values in Germany, exemplified by the market of the historic city of Regensburg, and therefore supports investors in understanding market behavior patterns in both rental and investment context. Design/methodology/approach The authors construct two generalized additive models for rents and purchasing prices with spatial components and under inclusion of both typical property characteristics (as control variables) and a 100-year flood risk parameter in order to estimate its effect on the rents and property price structure. The authors apply the methodology to a four-year data set of more than 16,500 observations. Findings The analysis shows that flood risk is a highly significant parameter when estimating both the rent as well as the sales price model. The authors also find that purchase prices for one square meter of living area are, on average, EUR299 lower if the property is located in the flood risk zone. In addition, also rental markets come with a respective, but rather low, discount. Practical implications The authors provide transparency to investors in terms of the impact that a flood risk location has on property rents as well as purchasing prices. The study supports investors by providing evidence on reaction patterns in German real estate markets and helps quantifying the financial impact that comes with flood risk in Germany. Originality/value This is the first study that aims to empirically test and to quantify the impact of flood risk on property rents and purchasing prices in Germany. Related research has been performed for the USA, Ireland and New Zealand and largely refers to event-driven work or rather conceptual in the context of property valuation.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the functionality and main results of the ImmoRisk tool. The aim of the project of the Federal Ministry for Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVBS), in corporation with the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR), was to develop a user-friendly tool that provides a sound basis with respect to the risk situation caused by extreme weather events. Design/methodology/approach – The tool calculates the annual expected losses (AEL) for different types of extreme weather hazard and the damage rate as the proportion of AEL on building value, based on a trinomial approach: natural hazard, vulnerability and the value of the property. Findings – The paper provides property-specific risk profiles of both the present and future risk situation caused by various extreme weather events. Research limitations/implications – The approach described in the paper can serve as a model for the realization of subsequent tools in further countries bound with other climatic risks. Practical implications – The real estate industry is affected by a significant rise in monetary damages caused by extreme weather events. Accordingly, the approach is suitable for implementation in the companies’ real estate risk management systems. Social implications – The tool offers homeowners a profound basis for investment decisions with regard to adaptation measures. Originality/value – The approach pioneers fourfold: first, by meeting the needs of the housing and real estate industry based on a trinomial approach; second, by using a property-specific bottom-up approach; third, by offering both a comprehensive risk assessment of the hazards storms, flood and hailstorm and finally, by providing results with respect to the future climatic risk situation.

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