German lender Aareal Bank reported an operating profit of EUR 43 mln for its structured property financing business in the first quarter of 2011, up from EUR 24 mln in the same period last year and EUR 31 mln in the last three months of 2010.
Overall, the bank reported an operating profit of EUR 47 mln for the first three months of 2011.
While new business increased only slightly year-on-year, to EUR 1.4 bn compared to EUR 1.3 bn in Q1 2010, Aareal said that the share of newly acquired business increased significantly, a trend which it expects to continue during the coming months.
Aareal ranks among a number of German financiers which have indicated in recent weeks that they are seeking to increase their real estate loan books in 2011, according to the May edition of PropertyEU Magazine. Aareal is seeking to boost its new business for the year by 14% to EUR 8 bn from EUR 6.7 bn in 2010. Last year's figure marked a 74% increase on 2009.
Similarly, Deutsche Pfandbriefbank aims to double its new business in 2011 to EUR 8 bn from EUR 4.1 bn in 2009.
Westimmo, however, has refrained from giving a concrete forecast for the development of its new business volume this year. After seeing new business rise 13% to EUR 6.2 bn in 2009, the bank's volumes plunged 47% last year to EUR 3.3 bn.
Read more on the German property lenders in the May edition of PropertyEU Magazine. Click on the link below to subscribe. | 
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