Time to fully recognise the potential of digital start-ups

There’s no denying that the federal budget is increasingly in trouble. It may have been the right decision, and an important one at that, to loosen the shackles on the financial assistance and add supplementary aid schemes, but it must be ensured that things don’t get out of hand. If it keeps a lid on the likely pressure to consolidate, the government will need to pull out all the stops to preserve its fiscal resources by making more efficient use of them as the crisis progresses. The new federal government will face major challenges and weighty decisions in fiscal and economic policy. After all, it will ultimately have to manage putting the public finances back on solid ground without overly squeezing the economy with even more burdensome taxes and contributions. There is probably no way around a major reckoning next autumn after the Bundestag parliamentary elections. [more]

Germany’s main stock market index, Dax, is undergoing its biggest rule makeover so far. The number of constituents will rise from 30 to 40, trading volume will be dropped as a selection criterion and new members must have been profitable for two years before first-time admission. Governance standards are also tightened. While the index will become more diversified and slightly “younger” as a result, the enlargement will not reduce the massive overweight of the manufacturing sector. The new profitability requirement creates a questionable bias against young and rising start-ups. Furthermore, index rules cannot solve the fundamental problems hindering a stronger stock market (culture) in Germany – only policymakers can and should. Germany’s share in global market cap is only about half of its weight in the global economy. The most valuable company in the world is worth more than the entire future Dax 40 combined. [more]

The corporate sector in Germany and particularly SMEs have become more resilient in terms of funding which should help them weather the corona shock. Current financing conditions also remain favourable: banks have hardly tightened lending standards, the government has issued unprecedented credit guarantees and the ECB is eagerly buying corporate bonds. Nonetheless, corporate insolvencies will rise as a result of the deep recession. Because the government has temporarily waived the obligation to file for bankruptcy, insolvency numbers have continued to fall until now but this may change soon. Rising loan losses will have a significant impact on German banks which are already exhausted by years of zero interest rates and low structural growth. With loan loss provisions possibly tripling, the banking industry will probably record a net loss this year. [more]

The corona crisis has forced many employees to work from home. A consensus seems to be emerging that this is becoming the new normal. Many companies have already offered their employees the option to work from home for several days per week, even post-COVID. An enforceable right for employees to work from home would imply that employers must compensate employees for the additional living space required for home offices. In this paper we analyse the long-term implications of such legislation. We find serious side effects, in particular for the real estate market and the labour market. [more]

In 2019, net migration to Germany amounted to +327,100, a significant decrease compared to the previous years. Particularly striking is the sharp decline in immigration from Poland and the sharp increase in the number of immigrants from India. In 2020, immigration is likely to collapse due to the COVID-19 crisis. Subsequently, we expect higher number again. The migration over the coming years might be driven by the skilled worker immigration law which came into force in March 2020. Also, the very good epidemiological situation in Germany compared with many other countries might be a pull factor. If net migration then returns to more than 300,000 people per year, the population is likely to rise from 83.2 million today to over 84 million by the early 2030s. [more]

Cash was in high demand throughout Europe at the start of the coronavirus crisis. In March, euro circulation skyrocketed by EUR 36 bn month on month. Nearly half of that volume consisted of smaller banknotes, which people use to pay for their everyday purchases. In Germany, however, consumers have increasingly been using contactless payments rather than cash since March as they wish to protect themselves against infection and because the retail sector requests that they avoid cash. Contactless card payments may have replaced a certain share of cash payments permanently even though not all customers who prefer cash will change their payment behaviour. [more]

Due to the coronavirus, production in the manufacturing sector in Germany is expected to fall by roughly 10% to 15% in real terms in 2020. Society and business will learn to live with the coronavirus and weigh up health, social and economic risks in the process. In 2021, industrial production could rise by more than 10% in real terms on average over the course of the year. However, overall we see a risk that Germany may become less attractive as an industrial location over the coming years. Policymakers and industrial companies are likely to view the crisis surrounding the coronavirus as an opportunity to make important political decisions and get structural reforms off the ground, as they should. [more]

The corona crisis is currently overshadowing all other aspects of the German property market. On the assumption of a strong recovery in the second half of the year structural issues will return to the foreground and the pandemic will slow down, but not bring an end to the German property cycle. In this report we look into both the negative effects of the crisis and fundamental factors and assess the outcome for the German house and office market. A flight to safety and the potential increased immigration could have a positive impact in the medium term. [more]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertainties about the future development of German real estate prices have increased considerably. A global flight to safety should drive prices for residential properties up. In the short-run, the downturn in economic activity, particularly during the first half of 2020, and considerable uncertainty about the future as well as the psychological burden are likely to result in price declines. [more]

We identify the impact of negative rates on household portfolios in Germany. Real returns on cash and deposits stood at -1.2% in Q1 2019. Due to that, Germans lost around EUR 150 in real terms in 2019 per person, compared to the 1991-2014 average. The aggregate loss including claims on insurance for a representative household was roughly EUR 540 per year. The richest 10% of Germans hold 60% of the financial wealth and probably have significantly higher losses. In 2019, net lending to private households in Germany reached a new record of EUR 59.5 bn (+4.8% yoy). Mortgages saw a record increase of EUR 53 bn (5.3% yoy). Deposits rose by EUR 41.1 bn in the seasonally strong final quarter. In 2020, mortgage growth is likely to slump, even stagnate. The corona virus pandemic will probably lead to a reduction in household income and possibly to bottlenecks in the issuance of building permits. [more]

The key message: If the Berlin rent cap is constitutional, the situation for investors will change dramatically. The realignment of housing policy in Berlin and the rent cap represent a radical attempt to sideline market-based mechanisms. We believe the economic supercycle in Berlin will continue undiminished and Berlin remains an attractive market for long-term oriented investors. The negative effects of the rent cap on the housing market are likely to emerge clearly in the long run. [more]

German retail clients have shown relatively little interest in passive investment alternatives, compared to traditional mutual funds. Robo-advisors, which primarily invest in ETFs, have seen the number of their clients and AuM grow. German robo-advisors could manage about EUR 25-35 bn in 2025, up from EUR 4 bn today. Their pioneer clients are largely male, middle-aged and high-income. They value full control and autonomy in their financial decisions and deal with financial matters mostly online. Still, they visit bank branches quite frequently. [more]