The Institute for Federal Real Estate (in german: Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben, abbreviated ''BImA'') is a

government agency A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administrati ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

that provides

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

government entities with

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

services. It functions as a

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, the ...

in the government system of internal rent—a commercially based model for managing government real estate. Institute for Federal Real Estate 2008, p. 6 The institute provides services such as

renting Renting, also known as hiring or letting, is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for al ...

space,

facility management Facility management or facilities management (FM) is a professional management discipline focused on the efficient and effective delivery of logistics and other support services related to real property and buildings. It encompasses multiple disc ...

and

real estate development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parcels ...

. The institute itself owns a major proportion of the property it manages, and is one of the largest owners of real estate in Germany. It was estimated that within 2011, the Institute for Federal Real Estate would—due to property transfers—own and manage nearly all real estate used by the

federal government of Germany The Federal Cabinet or Federal Government (german: link=no, Bundeskabinett or ') is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's org ...

. The Institute for Federal Real Estate was established via law on January 1, 2005. It succeeded the Federal Property Administration (), which was dismantled, and from which tasks and staff were transferred. At the same time, the Federal Forests Administration () was integrated into the institute as the federal forests division.

Organization

The Institute for Federal Real Estate is a

legal entity In law, a legal person is any person or 'thing' (less ambiguously, any legal entity) that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, sue and be sued, own property, and so on. The reason for ...

of the type , i.e. a public-law institute. It has approximately 5,800 employees at 120 different locations in Germany. The institute functions under the legal and supervisory control of the Federal Ministry of Finance. The top management consists of a 3-member

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

, which is assisted by an advisory 10-member

board of governors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...

. , - , style="text-align: left;", Notes:

Principal activities

Five of the nine divisions are responsible for the principal activities of the Institute for Federal Real Estate:

, federal forests, administrative tasks, portfolio management and sales.

Administrative tasks

The administrative tasks division provides various property-related services that are in the

public interest The public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. Overview Economist Lok Sang Ho in his ''Public Policy and the Public Interest'' argues that the public interest must be assessed impartially and, therefore ...

. Institute for Federal Real Estate 2008, p. 14 As Germany is a member of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, there are foreign military forces permanently stationed in the country, which require space for their activities. The administrative tasks division provides both these foreign forces and the federal armed forces () with suitable buildings and land, either through

procurement Procurement is the method of discovering and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, Service (economics), services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. When a government agenc ...

or by

leasing A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

from other real estate owners. Institute for Federal Real Estate 2008, p. 15 The division also provides federal

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

s with housing at

market price A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or Financial compensation, compensation given by one Party (law), party to another in return for Good (economics), goods or Service (economics), services. In some situations, the pr ...

s. For this purpose, the Institute for Federal Real Estate has around 100,000 residential

housing unit A housing unit, or dwelling unit, (at later mention often abbreviated to ''unit'') is a structure or the part of a structure or the space that is used as a home, residence, or sleeping place by one person or more people who maintain a common hous ...

s, either owned by the institute, or leased from a third party. In addition, the administrative tasks division handles legal matters related to the division of assets due to the

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

. It also handles citizens'

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building *Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fina ...

claims for personal and property damage caused by the

military exercise A military exercise or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat. This also serves the purpose of ensuring the com ...

s of foreign military forces stationed in Germany. In 2008, such compensation payments were estimated to amount to a total of 18 million

EUR The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . Th ...

. BImA has shifted from strong profit-orientation towards greater support of social and environmental goals in the 2010s, after being allowed to sell land to municipalities at lower than market value for public purposes in the federal budget plan.

Facility management

The

division procures, manages, and disposes of real estate on behalf of government entities. If the institute is unable to provide the real estate demanded by a government entity, it rents that required property from the private real estate market, and then

sublets A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

the property to the government entity. This makes the institute an

intermediary An intermediary (or go-between) is a third party that offers intermediation services between two parties, which involves conveying messages between principals in a dispute, preventing direct contact and potential escalation of the issue. In law ...

between private sector real estate providers and the federal government. The division's

real estate management Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010) ...

operations include renting, handling

invoice An invoice, bill or tab is a commerce, commercial document issued by a sales, seller to a buyer relating to a sale transaction and indicating the product (business), products, quantities, and agreed-upon prices for products or Service (economic ...

s for services, and executing construction projects. There is also

of residential and other real estate to the private sector, which provides approximately 25% of the total

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...

of the Institute for Federal Real Estate. Institute for Federal Real Estate 2008, p. 8 Such commercial real estate has typically had former military uses, for instance

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are u ...

. A nationwide

SAP ERP SAP ERP is an enterprise resource planning software developed by the German company SAP SE. SAP ERP incorporates the key business functions of an organization. The latest version of SAP ERP (V.6.0) was made available in 2006. The most recent SA ...

-based real estate management system is used for the commercial activities.

Federal forests

The federal forests division manages and provides services related to

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

, open land and

waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary b ...

s owned by the

and by third parties. Institute for Federal Real Estate 2008, p. 16 The land managed by the division is used for

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

, as

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

s, and in part for

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. In 2008, the Federal Forests division managed forest areas covering 360,000

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s and open land areas covering 247,000 hectares, which in total is approximately 1.7% of the area of Germany, making the Institute for Federal Real Estate one of the largest managers of land in Germany. Approximately half of this land is used by the federal armed forces (), Federal Forests Webpage

(German) for instance as training areas, and as protective barriers for civilian population adjacent to

military installation A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

s. Institute for Federal Real Estate 2008, p. 17

Portfolio management

The portfolio management division analyses the property assets of the Institute for Federal Real Estate, and is responsible for evaluating their economic viability. Institute for Federal Real Estate 2008, p. 12 The division makes annual investment decisions, and also prepares a portfolio of sales. It adds

economic value In economics, economic value is a measure of the benefit provided by a good or service to an economic agent. It is generally measured through units of currency, and the interpretation is therefore "what is the maximum amount of money a specif ...

to the properties being sold through deciding on

demolition Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a ...

, land parcellation, site development, and by obtaining

building permit A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fun ...

Sales

The sales division is responsible for commercially selling real estate that the federal government no longer requires. Institute for Federal Real Estate 2008, p. 10 This includes

residential property A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

commercial property Commercial property, also called commercial real estate, investment property or income property, is real estate (buildings or land) intended to generate a profit, either from capital gains or rental income. Commercial property includes office bu ...

, land,

s and culturally significant buildings. Institute for Federal Real Estate 2008, p. 11 The Institute for Federal Real Estate considers the division's specialty to be the

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

of military areas that have been used by the armed forces of Germany (''

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

'') and foreign military forces. The division's long-term aim is to dispose about 30,000 properties, by selling around 3,000 annually. The properties sold are often subject to follow-up investments, such as converting former military areas into residential estates and recreational facilities. The Institute for Federal Real Estate does not by itself engage in such

, but rather works together with state authorities, local authorities and investors. The revenue generated by the sales division accounts for around 50% of the total revenue generated.

Real estate stock

In 2005, the

book value In accounting, book value is the value of an asset according to its balance sheet account balance. For assets, the value is based on the original cost of the asset less any depreciation, amortization or impairment costs made against the asset. Tra ...

of the government real estate stock owned by the Institute for Federal Real Estate was approximately 10 billion

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s. Institute for Federal Real Estate 2008, p. 4 The total real estate stock included: * 300,000

s of land * 50,000 buildings Examples of buildings and land partially or fully owned at some point in time by the Institute for Federal Real Estate include: *

Berlin Tempelhof Airport Berlin Tempelhof Airport (german: Flughafen Berlin-Tempelhof) was one of the first airports in Berlin, Germany. Situated in the south-central Berlin borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg, the airport ceased operating in 2008 amid controversy, leav ...

Institute for Federal Real Estate 2008, p. 9 * Vogelsang Castle *

Langlütjen Langlütjen is the name of the two uninhabited artificial islands created in the 19th century, ''Langlütjen I'' and ''Langlütjen II'', north off the coast of the district Wesermarsch in Lower Saxony, Germany. The islands are administered by th ...

Heligoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben
— official website {{Authority control German federal agencies Real estate in Germany Federal authorities in Bonn