Immo-Flash

The capital increase which took place between 22 and 30 October 2020 for UBS Direct Urban was fully placed, providing the fund with new resources of around CHF 86 million. The activity over the last few months at very good locations in the regions of Basel, Locarno, St Gallen and Zurich demonstrate the portfolio's constant expansion.

UBS Direct Urban – investing in the urban future today.

The fund invests directly in residential and commercial property in robust urban locations throughout Switzerland and exhibits a high-quality, diversified portfolio. Its focus is on sustainable construction. With 19 properties at present, the portfolio volume stands at around CHF 500 million.

UBS AST Real Estate Switzerland sees steady portfolio growth

The 2019/2020 financial year showed the UBS AST-IS portfolio delivering strong results in turbulent and challenging market conditions and continuing to confirm its positioning as a leading mixed investment vehicle for Swiss pension funds. At 30 September 2020, the last day of its financial year, UBS AST-IS posted a very solid investment return of 4.7% and increased its portfolio volume by 3.7% to CHF 2.37 billion. This was also on the back of an acquisition of an additional property at Granges-Paccot in the canton of Freiburg (50% each for UBS AST-IS and UBS AST-KIS). Thus, as at 30 September 2020, the UBS AST-IS portfolio comprised 132 properties. Despite rent losses due to COVID-19, the rent default rate fell to 6.5%.

UBS AST Commercial Real Estate Switzerland performed solidly with 4.1%

As from March, the 2019/2020 financial year became completely dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, UBS AST-KIS managed to identify the temporary major uncertainties on time, taking appropriate action to address them. Despite a persistently challenging market environment, the portfolio enjoyed solid performance of 4.1% and saw its volume increase by around 3.4% from CHF 688.1 million to CHF 711.4 million. In the past financial year, UBS AST-KIS also managed to extend a broad range of expiring leases.

Spring 2020 saw the signing of a lease with Implenia for 12,000m² of office space in Ambassador House. In October 2020, Implenia began working on its tenant improvements. Implenia is likely to occupy its new head office in summer 2021 with 85% of office space let out – a fantastic achievement! Apart from Implenia, Ambassador House will accommodate another major tenant, namely Sunrise Communication AG, as well as various other large and small firms. In addition to the ground-floor restaurant run by the SV Group, tenants and external interested parties will have access to the conference rooms rented and made available by ISS Conferencing.

Ambassador House provides a total of around 42,000m² of leasable office space with some 1,100 parking spaces in the underground car park and roughly a further 11,500m² of storage space for rent. Whether large or individual offices, offices linked horizontally with internal staircases, or vertically combined spaces – the possibilities are endless. The property also received the Platinum certification in July 2018 from the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) seal of approval for sustainable building.

Find out more about Ambassador House.

In early 2019, the go-ahead was given for the new «Sihlfeld-Zürich» construction project at one of Zurich’s best locations in Kreis 3, Zürich-Wiedikon. So it comes as no surprise that all 61 apartments have already been rented out before the first tenants had even moved in. The first tenants moved into their new apartments at the beginning of November. «Sihlfeld-Zürich» is yet another implemented example of the high sustainability standards of Real Estate Switzerland. This SGNI Gold project has already been pre-certified. Final certification will take place once construction work is complete. In addition to a photovoltaic system and brine-water heat pump, the new construction project also features the «e-James» tenant service app, which allows for direct contact with property management and access to operating manuals, floor plans and information sheets. Additionally, there is also an interactive letterbox from Paketbox, enabling tenants to receive parcels in their absence.

The 419 flats on Chemin Duboule Moïse, Chemin Colladon and Chemin du Champs-d’Anier belong to an urban planning ensemble with four distinctive blocks built between 1968 and 1971 and since owned by UBS «Foncipars». With work starting in summer 2021, the listed properties are scheduled to undergo a full classic renovation (bathrooms, kitchens and foyer) with an emphasis on renovating the technical installations and optimising the buildings’ energy footprint. This will be achieved by means of additional thermal insulation of the flat roofs, further improvements to the building core, heat recovery from the buildings’ redirected exhaust air and large-scale photovoltaic systems. With comprehensive renovation work due for completion at the end of 2023, the buildings should be certified with the “MINERGIE Renovation” label and with a coveted SNBS Gold label. Investment will total around CHF 50 million.

1 UBS «Anfos» = UBS (CH) Property Fund - Swiss Residential «Anfos», UBS «Foncipars» = UBS (CH) Property Fund - Léman Residential «Foncipars», UBS «Sima» = UBS (CH) Property Fund - Swiss Mixed «Sima», UBS «Swissreal» = UBS (CH) Property Fund - Swiss Commercial «Swissreal», UBS Direct Residential = UBS (CH) Property Fund – Direct Residential, UBS Direct Urban = UBS (CH) Property Fund – Direct Urban, UBS AST-IS = UBS AST Real Estate Switzerland, UBS AST-KIS = UBS AST Commercial Real Estate Switzerland, UBS (CH) Property Fund – Europe = UBS PF Europe