Hamburg in Real Estate Sell-off

The northern German city-state of Hamburg is seeking to sell property worth more than one billion euros ($1.23 billion), its finance minister Wolfgang Peiner said Thursday in an interview. "The real-estate sale would earn us more than a billion euros," Peiner told the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. A total of 180 pieces of property could be included in the process, which would take place in several stages through the end of 2006, the newspaper said. Revenue from the sales could reach as high as 1.5-1.7 billion euros, the business daily Handelsblatt said, citing banking sources and people close to the matter. The German real estate market is less expensive than those in other European countries and is in the process of consolidation, with businesses and local or regional governments seeking fresh funds through major sales.