German property deals to hit 25 bln eur in 2011-Savills

LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) - Yield-hungry global investors will help push German commercial property deal volumes to 25 billion euros ($35.6 billion) in 2011, up 31 percent on 2010, with activity centred on retail assets, property consultancy Savills said.

"Given a couple of forthcoming large-volume transactions throughout the second half of the year, the 25 billion euro mark seems realistic," Oliver Schinkewitz, managing director of research at Savills Berlin, said on Thursday.

Commercial property deal volumes for Germany in 2010 totaled 19.1 billion euros, Savills said.

In the first half of 2011, 11 billion euros of transactions were completed, including about 4.7 billion of retail assets, up from 8.6 billion in the first of half 2010, with about 3.6 billion of retail deals.

"Besides shopping centres in Hamburg and Cologne, various Karstadt properties changed ownership," Savills said.

Retailer Karstadt was sold to billionaire Nicolas Berggruen in 2010 after its former parent Arcandor failed, while hopes of a tie-up with Metro AG ended in May.

German retail assets have been in demand over the past year, with a slew of yield-hungry international investors -- such as F&C REIT and British insurer Aviva's asset management unit -- attracted by Germany's economic growth and rising consumer confidence.

In April, a Reuters poll of 20 analysts found they expected the Germany economy to by 2.8 percent in 2011 and 1.9 percent in 2012. ($1 = 0.702 Euros) (Reporting by Andrew Macdonald; Editing by David Holmes)