UPDATE 1-Deutsche CEO says crisis end getting closer -paper

(Adds comments from separate newspaper interview)

ZURICH, May 18 (Reuters) - The end of the credit crisis is getting closer and the U.S. real estate market should recover in the second half of the year, Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) Chief Executive Josef Ackermann said in a newspaper interview.

"I think that we are getting closer to the end of the financial crisis," Ackermann told the Swiss Sunday newspaper Sonntagsblick. "It is not fully over yet, but the signs from the United States are encouraging."

Ackermann said that the pragmatic approach in the United States to resolve the crisis should start to pay off soon.

"We should feel the effects in the second half of the year already and see a strong recovery of the U.S. real estate market," he told the paper.

The fallout from U.S. households' defaulting on home payments triggered the global crisis, leading to a squeeze in credit markets in Europe and the United States as banks stopped lending for fear of being exposed to the subprime problems.

Ackermann urged banks to draw lessons from the crisis quickly.

"I am worried that otherwise governments will step up regulations in a way that are harmful to our sector," he said.

In a separate interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Ackermann said Deutsche was sticking to its target of making a pretax return on equity of 25 percent over the business cycle.

"That is our goal. Even in 2007, half of which was a time of crisis, we made 26 percent," he was quoted as saying. "Geograhically and with our broad range of products we are positioned outstandingly for the megatrends."

Asked about possible acquisitions, he said:

"We do not feel pressured to act. We don't have to buy anything, so we are strong enough. We are among the best in the world in the areas where we do business, but of course that does not mean that we will let a good buying opportunity pass us by."

Deutsche Bank has flagged its interest in the German retail banking operations being put on the block by Citicorp Inc (C.N) and in Deutsche Postbank (DPBGn.DE), which parent Deutsche Post (DPWGn.DE) is in the process of selling.

(Additional reporting by Michael Shields in Frankfurt) (Reporting by Sven Egenter; Editing by Jason Neely)