Instone Real Estate (“Instone”), one of Germany’s leading residential developers, is quickly pushing forward with the development of affordable and viable residential accommodation via a subsidiary recently formed for the purpose. The nyoo brand will significantly increase the share in affordable housing – both in the publicly funded and in the privately financed sectors – through new property developments. As a company active nationwide, nyoo pursues a clear-cut goal: to create affordable and simultaneously smart new-build rental apartments in metropolitan suburbs and in regions that tend to be overlooked in the public debate on the need to increase the affordable housing supply.
Stefan Dahlmanns, the Managing Director of nyoo, said: “Affordable apartments are in short supply not just in Berlin and Munich. Building activities have also lagged far behind demand in many economically prospering regions such as Münsterland, northern Bavaria or the Rhine-Neckar area, and have done so for years. We are aware of enormous demand here. In addition to the focus of our activities in the metro regions, we will therefore devote ourselves particularly to these regions, too, and tap new markets.”
Kruno Crepulja, CEO and chairman of the board of Instone, is convinced that a commitment in this segment offers tremendous growth upside for Instone. And that is not all: “It underscores our ambition to showcase solutions for society's collective problem of housing shortages, and to contribute actively to the effort to increase the affordable housing supply in the suburbs of major cities.” Crepulja cited a concrete example to illustrate his point: “The rent burden has become enormous in the metropolises. In central parts of Düsseldorf, the monthly rent inclusive of heating can easily go as high as 2,300 euros. We at nyoo will reduce the rent burden by 30 to 40 percent – while ensuring easy accessibility to the core cities.” Crepulja went on to say: “With nyoo, we respond to the pressing questions of our times. We are therefore certain that this additional offer will enhance the attractiveness of our umbrella brand, Instone, for investors focusing on social-impact and ESG criteria.”
nyoo is Superbly Positioned for Future Growth
More than 30 staff – including from the areas of architecture, property development, finance and construction management services – have now started their jobs at the nyoo head office in Cologne. They are already backed by co-workers in Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Frankfurt. The in-house planning department is also ready to get started. Stefan Dahlmanns: “Our team just keeps on growing. We are glad to see it happen. Everyone aboard knows that we are not just property developers, but that we are taking on a major societal challenge by focusing on affordable housing. Doing something meaningful – having a purpose, so to speak – is extremely important in our line of work, especially for young real estate professionals.”
Drawing on the support of the eight Instone branch offices across Germany, the nyoo team has started to identify opportunities for regional new-build construction projects – using state-of-the-art market research tools and collaborating with partners in the science and research community. Stefan Dahlmanns: “We have the know-how and the network to stay on top of the times and to respond swiftly to demand in a given region.” nyoo intends to achieve the contemplated cost savings essentially by using the following levers, fine-tuned to allow for the differences of each project: maximum standardisation and digitisation of property development and construction processes, smart and cost-optimised residential designs with innovative floor plans, and lower operating costs by implementing, at the least, the KfW-55 sustainability standard and a DGNB green label certification.
As early as 2030, the work of nyoo is to ensure that roughly half of all properties developed by the Instone Group will qualify for the “affordable housing” segment. As of 30 September of this year, projects that will deliver around 250 residential units were already in an advanced development stage. The project portfolio is supposed to be brought up to a total of 500 residential units by the end of this year.
