The Institute for Federal Real Estate (in , abbreviated ''BImA'') is a

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

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

that provides federal government entities with real estate services. It functions as a

landlord A landlord is the owner of property such as a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate that is rented or leased to an individual or business, known as a tenant (also called a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). The term landlord appli ...

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 use of a good, service or property owned by another over a fixed period of time. To maintain such an agreement, a rental agreement (or lease) is sig ...

space,

facility management Facility management or facilities management (FM) is a professional discipline focused on coordinating the use of space, infrastructure, people, and organization. Facilities management ensures that physical assets and environments are managed effe ...

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 parce ...

. 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 Government (, ; abbr. BReg) is the chief Executive (government), executive body of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany and exercises executive power at the Federal level (Germany), federal level. It consists of the Chancellor ...

. 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 legal entity that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, lawsuit, sue and be sued, ownership, own property, and so on. The reason for the term "''le ...

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 is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

, which is assisted by an advisory 10-member

board of governors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...

. , - , 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 In social science and economics, public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. While it has earlier philosophical roots and is considered to be at the core of democratic theories of government, often paired ...

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

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, 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 process of locating and agreeing to terms and purchasing goods, services, or other works from an external source, often with the use of a tendering or competitive bidding process. The term may also refer to a contractual ...

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 service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

s with housing at

market price A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation expected, required, or given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, especially when the product is a service rather than a phy ...

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 () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

. It also handles citizens'

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...

claim Claim may refer to: * Claim (legal) * Claim of Right Act 1689 * Claims-based identity * Claim (philosophy) * Land claim * A ''main contention'', see conclusion of law * Patent claim * The assertion of a proposition; see Douglas N. Walton * A ri ...

s for personal and property damage caused by the

military exercise A military exercise, training exercise, maneuver (manoeuvre), or war game is the employment of military resources in Military education and training, training for military operations. Military exercises are conducted to explore the effects of ...

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: €; currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the euro area or, more commonly, the eurozone. The euro is divided into 10 ...

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

intermediary An intermediary, also known as a middleman or go-between, is defined differently by context. In law or diplomacy, an intermediary is a third-party beneficiary, third party who offers intermediation services between two parties. In trade or barte ...

between private sector real estate providers and the federal government. The division's real estate management operations include renting, handling

invoice An invoice, bill, tab, or bill of costs is a commercial document that includes an itemized list of goods or services furnished by a seller to a buyer relating to a sale transaction, that usually specifies the price and terms of sale, quanti ...

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 product (business), goods and services related to the primary operations of a business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some compan ...

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 buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

. A nationwide

SAP ERP SAP ERP is enterprise resource planning software developed by the European 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 woody plants (trees and shrubs), 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 sunli ...

, open land and

waterway A waterway is any Navigability, 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 ways. A first distinction is ...

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 and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

, 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, funga, or features of geologic ...

s, and in part for

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. 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), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s and open land areas covering 247,000 hectares, which in total is approximately 1.7% of the area of Germany,

The World Factbook ''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a Reference work, reference resource produced by the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The off ...

Germany
Calculation: (3600 + 2470) / 357022 ≈ 0.017 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 (), 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 Military operation, operations. A military base always provides ...

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 goods, good or service (economics), service to an Agent (economics), economic agent, and value for money represents an assessment of whether financial or other resources are ...

to the properties being sold through deciding on

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

, land parcellation, site development, and by obtaining

building permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to buil ...

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 resident ...

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 (economics), profit, either from capital gains or Renting, rental income. Commercial ...

, 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 act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

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

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

'') 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 (or carrying 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 ...

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

euro The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...

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: *

Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service The Headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service or the BND Headquarters (, colloquially the ) is the headquarters of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) of Germany, and is located at the Chausseestraße in the Mitte district in the cen ...

Berlin Tempelhof Airport Berlin Tempelhof Airport () 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, leaving Tegel and Schönefeld as the ...

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

Heligoland Heligoland (; , ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , ) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. The islands were historically possessions of Denmark, then became possessions of the United Kingdom from 1807 to 1890. Since 1890, the ...

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

Bundesanstalt für Immobilienaufgaben
— official website {{Authority control Government agencies established in 2005 2005 establishments in Germany German federal agencies Real estate in Germany Federal authorities in Bonn