Lübke Kelber AG is significantly expanding its business with the privatisation of residential portfolios and the individual sale of condominiums. Under the Lübke Kelber Living brand, the Group’s decades of experience in residential property sales will be combined with the possibilities of a modern, integrated real estate platform. The goal is clear: Lübke Kelber Living wants to develop into one of the leading providers of residential privatisation in Germany in the coming years.
More than 60,000 apartments Experience
Residential privatization is not a new business area for Lübke Kelber. Both Alt & Kelber and Dr. Lübke have been active in the individual sale of residential properties for decades. “Residential privatization is part of Lübke Kelber’s DNA,” says Jürgen F. Kelber, Supervisory Board member of Lübke Kelber AG. “We have experience from more than 60,000 apartments marketed in retail sales. We now want to combine this expertise with modern sales structures, digitalization and our current real estate platform.”
Kelber continues: “Our ambition is to develop Lübke Kelber Living into one of the market-leading providers of residential privatization in Germany. To this end, we are making targeted investments in personnel, digital sales channels, processes and strategic partnerships.”
Lübke Kelber Living already accompanies owners along the entire privatization process, from the analysis and preparation of a housing stock to the establishment of sales readiness and the development of a marketing strategy to the individual sale of the apartments.
Marcel Hoecker is responsible for the expansion of Lübke Kelber Living
Marcel Hoecker, Managing Director of Lübke Kelber Living, is responsible for the operational expansion of the business area. “We don’t just want to offer portfolio holders classic apartment sales,” says Hoecker. “Our aim is a fully structured privatization process. This begins with the analysis of the portfolio and the question of which apartments and parts of the portfolio are suitable for privatization. We then develop the appropriate strategy together with the owner and accompany the entire process up to the sale of the individual apartment.”
Lübke Kelber Living is aimed in particular at institutional and medium-sized portfolio holders, housing companies, funds, family offices and other owners of larger residential portfolios.
Additional exit channel for portfolio holders
With the changed interest rate and investment market, the individual sale of apartments is gaining in importance again. While entire apartment portfolios were often sold to institutional buyers during the low interest rate phase, institutional investors are now more selective when it comes to larger housing stocks. At the same time, many owners are faced with the task of restructuring portfolios, freeing up capital or reacting to changed refinancing conditions.
“For larger portfolio holders, apartment privatization can represent an additional strategic exit channel,” explains Hoecker. “This is not about fundamentally replacing global sales. Rather, we analyze which liquidation strategy makes the most economic sense for a portfolio or individual parts of a portfolio.”
In the case of suitable residential portfolios, the individual sale can open up additional value potential compared to a complete portfolio sale. This approach is already part of Lübke Kelber Living’s previous strategy.
Entire privatisation process from a single source
Lübke Kelber Living deliberately does not want to limit itself to the pure marketing of individual apartments. The range of services includes, among other things, the analysis of the privatisation capacity of an existing portfolio, the development of sales and pricing strategies, the preparation of the properties, the approach to existing tenants, the sale to owner-occupiers and investors as well as the complete operational support of the individual sale.
A particular advantage is the integration into the entire Lübke-Kelber platform. The group of companies combines transaction business, investment management, asset management, property management and residential sales and is represented at five locations throughout Germany.
“Especially in the case of larger portfolios, privatization is much more than listing individual apartments on sales platforms,” says Kelber. “It’s about an overarching strategy, the right order of sales, the situation of the tenants, the preparation of the portfolios, financing options, data management and professionally organized sales. This is exactly where we want to contribute our decades of experience.”
Tenants as an important group
of buyers Existing tenants are to play a special role. “We want to give tenants a real chance to acquire their own apartment where it makes economic sense,” says Kelber. “For us, responsible housing privatization means combining the interests of the owners with the opportunity to create private ownership.” According to the study by the Pestel Institute, which was used in Lübke Kelber Living’s previous concept, the home ownership rate in Germany is only 43.5 percent.
“Compared to other countries, Germany has a very low rate of home ownership,” says Kelber. “We therefore also see it as a social task to give more people access to home ownership.”
Hoecker adds: “Existing tenants in particular know their apartment, their living environment and their neighborhood. That’s why we want to address them early and transparently. In addition, we are targeting owner-occupiers and private investors.”
Home ownership as a building block for asset accumulation and retirement provision
In addition to tenants and owner-occupiers, Lübke Kelber Living’s sales are also aimed at private investors. In the previous concept, residential property is already positioned as a long-term tangible asset and building block of private asset accumulation.
“For many people, a residential property can be an important part of long-term asset accumulation and retirement provision,” says Kelber. “We want to help private buyers regain greater access to this market.”
The decisive factors here are comprehensible purchase prices, sustainable rents, sustainable financing and a long-term reasonable perspective of the respective property.
Economic success and responsible privatisation
Lübke Kelber combines two goals with the expansion of the business area: portfolio holders are to be offered professional and economically attractive sales strategies. At the same time, individual sales are to open up the possibility for more private buyers to acquire property.
“Economic success for the owner and responsible privatization do not have to be a contradiction,” says Kelber. “Our goal is a professional sales process that is economically convincing for the portfolio holder and at the same time opens up fair employment opportunities for tenants and private buyers.”
Investments in personnel, digitization and sales
To expand the business area, Lübke Kelber is investing in personnel, sales structures, digitization and strategic cooperations. These investments are already part of Lübke Kelber Living’s previous growth strategy.
In addition to individual larger privatization mandates, the company is striving for long-term partnerships with housing companies and portfolio holders. Hoecker explains: “We are particularly looking for partners who own larger portfolios and want to develop and implement a structured privatization strategy with us over several years.” Kelber adds: “We don’t just want to sell individual apartments. We want to be a long-term partner for our clients in the strategic development and privatization of their housing stock.”
