Primus Immobilien AG and Greystar Launch €200 Million Build-To-Rent Joint Venture Targeting Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt
Primus Immobilien AG and Greystar have formed a new build-to-rent joint venture to develop rental housing across Germany's four largest cities, the companies announced Sept. 24, 2026. The vehicle is backed by approximately €200 million of equity and targets a total project volume of more than €600 million, with a first transaction already secured.
The new joint venture extends a partnership that already spans four Berlin-focused ventures expected to deliver approximately 1,500 apartments by early 2029, with around 1,000 units already under construction. For the first time, the collaboration moves beyond Berlin into Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt.
Deal Structure and Scale
The €200 million equity commitment is paired with a total development target of more than €600 million across the four target markets. The joint venture will focus on professionally developed residential projects designed specifically for long-term rental, combining Primus Immobilien AG's local development expertise and market relationships with Greystar's institutional investment capability and global rental-housing operating experience.
The partners did not identify the first secured transaction by name, address or unit count at the time of announcement. Additional projects are described as being in the pipeline.
"Greystar and Primus share a strong conviction in the attractiveness of the residential markets in Germany's largest cities. Market fundamentals and demand remain strong, while Germany continues to face a shortage of more than one million homes. Developing sustainable new housing is therefore not only an attractive investment opportunity, but also an important contribution to addressing one of Germany's most pressing social challenges: the shortage of housing," said Sebastian Fischer, CEO of Primus Immobilien AG.
Expanding an Established Berlin Partnership
The new four-city vehicle builds on a track record that includes several Berlin developments connected to the Primus-Greystar partnership. Arrive Pankow, a 291-apartment project at Berliner Straße 100 in Berlin, reached a topping-out milestone in 2026 and was described as the first of four shared projects under an earlier Berlin joint venture. A separate development at Cecilienplatz 10 and 12 in Berlin's 12619 postal district is planned to deliver more than 200 apartments across approximately 13,000 square meters of gross floor area, with completion targeted for 2029. A further Primus-Greystar joint venture announced in 2026 targets more than 800 apartments across Berlin's Kreuzberg and Prenzlauer Berg districts, with an investment volume of approximately €400 million.
Those projects represent related partnership activity under earlier vehicles and are not confirmed components of the newly announced four-city joint venture.
"At a time when getting new housing built in Germany is increasingly difficult, we want to be part of the solution. That means committing long-term capital, drawing on the strength of our local and global teams and working with experienced partners who know how to deliver in their markets. Our partnership with Primus has already demonstrated what that combination can achieve in Berlin. This next phase gives us the opportunity to build on that experience and bring forward more rental housing across Germany's major cities," said Harlan Schade, Director – Investment, Germany & Austria, at Greystar.
Market Conditions Supporting the Strategy
Germany's four largest cities present some of the tightest rental market conditions in Europe. Vacancy in the Frankfurt and Munich rental markets had fallen below 0.1%, while Berlin and Hamburg were only marginally higher at approximately 0.3%. The national housing shortage cited by Primus Immobilien AG stands at more than one million homes, a figure reinforced by falling completion rates and persistently high construction costs.
New-build rents across eight major German cities averaged €21.39 per square meter in the first half of 2026, up 0.5% year over year — a marked deceleration from the 8.6% increase recorded in the prior year. Munich remained the most expensive of the target markets at €26.48 per square meter for new-build rents, followed by Hamburg at €23.75 per square meter and Berlin at €21.92 per square meter. The moderation in rent growth suggests the investment case is shifting toward durable occupancy and long-term income rather than rapid appreciation.
Supply constraints compound the demand picture. Munich recorded only 28 housing completions per 10,000 inhabitants in the first half of 2026, despite a building-permit rate of 40 per 10,000 — a gap that illustrates both the opportunity and the execution risk facing developers in the market. Some market reports tracked new-build and existing rent increases of 4% to 6% across several tier-one German cities in the same period, reflecting variation in methodology and city samples across different research sources.
Strategic Rationale for Both Partners
The joint venture pairs Primus Immobilien AG's local land sourcing, planning and development execution capabilities with Greystar's institutional capital base and global operating platform. Greystar manages and operates approximately $350 billion of real estate across more than 265 markets, with more than one million units or beds managed globally. The firm's platforms include more than $80 billion of assets under management, including over $34 billion of development assets and approximately $36.5 billion of regulatory assets under management.
For Primus Immobilien AG, the expansion provides a route to scale its residential development model into three additional major German cities while retaining a local development role. David Neuhoff, CFO of Primus, framed the move as a step toward broader national positioning.
"The expansion of our partnership with Greystar demonstrates Primus' position as a reliable partner for institutional investors in residential development. The new joint venture enables us to take our successful model in Berlin into Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt. This marks an important step towards establishing Primus as one of Germany's leading residential developers," Neuhoff said.
Greystar is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, and was founded by Bob Faith in 1993.
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