The sale of the 31,000 square metre building in the new city district, by Extensa/Grossfeld to Integrale/Ethias for €225m, was made during the second quarter. Deloitte staff are expected to move in May 2019. The second-biggest transaction was of Le Dôme, from Blackstone to Axa Investment Managers Real Assets, the price of which was not disclosed by JLL.

It was followed by JBBK in Kirchberg, a €170m sale from Commerz Real to Immochan and Aergogolf Center, sold by Atoz to Fidelity Investment for €100m.

The majority of transactions were on commercial buildings in the station district, Kirchberg, central business district and Cloche d’Or but not only. Aergogolf is close to the airport, while West Side Village ABC (€48m) and DEF (€44m) are based in Mamer, and E-Building (€39m) in Munsbach, showing property investment interests are extending their scope beyond the most-sought after districts.

JLL reported that prime office yields in Luxembourg fell to 4% in 2018, compared to 3% in Paris, 4.25% in Brussels and 3.25% in Frankfurt. Head of capital markets for JLL Vincent Van Brée said that considering the rising trend in office rents, this could go up. Indeed rents averaged €50 per square metre, a figure which looks set to rise to €52 in 2019 as vacancy rates are historically low.

In its 2019 outlook, JLL reported that there was over €250m invested in pipeline projects. The biggest commercial development expected to complete in 2019 is Royal-Hamilius, by Codic Group, to open Q4. In 2020, Kirchberg will see completion of OBH by Soludec in Q3, then there is Connection by Greenfinch in Luxembourg-Hamm also expected for Q3 and Buzzcity by Atenor in Leudelange for Q4.