Josef Vollmayr, Radim Passer, and the principals building institutional portfolios across the DACH-CEE corridor

DACH M&A deal value surged 32% in 2025 as Central European principals scale cross-border strategies

DACH M&A deal value increased by 32% in 2025 compared to the prior year, according to DC Advisory, even as overall deal volumes registered a small decline. The divergence between rising deal value and flat transaction counts points to a structural shift: larger, more institutional-grade deals are displacing fragmented activity across the German, Austrian, and Swiss markets. This trend now extends into the Central and Eastern European corridor, where a cohort of established principals is assembling portfolios that bridge both geographies.

European real estate investment as a whole climbed to €241 billion in 2025, a 13% increase compared to 2024, according to CBRE. The DACH region and Spain share the leading position as the most promising real estate markets for investors, cited by 47% of respondents in the Drooms Real Estate Trends Report 2025, with the CEE region following at 29%. The data confirms that capital allocators increasingly view the DACH-CEE axis as a single, interconnected opportunity set.

Who are the principals shaping the DACH-CEE investment corridor?

A small group of principals with deep Central European roots is driving institutional-scale capital deployment across the corridor. Their strategies vary by asset class and geography, but they share a common trait: each operates across national borders within the DACH-CEE zone, treating it as a unified allocation framework rather than a collection of discrete country bets.

Josef Vollmayr has built Limehome into one of Europe's fastest-scaling tech-enabled hospitality platforms. Originating in Germany, Limehome's expansion strategy leverages the depth of the DACH accommodation market while extending into broader European geographies. Vollmayr's approach reflects a thesis that institutional-quality returns in hospitality require technology integration at the operational core, a model that resonates strongly with investors seeking scalable, asset-light exposure to the living and short-stay segments.

Radim Passer, through Passerinvest Group, remains a foundational figure in CEE urban development. His flagship Brumlovka project in Prague stands as one of Central Europe's most significant mixed-use developments, a reference point for the kind of large-scale, long-hold urban transformation that institutional capital increasingly favours. Passer's portfolio demonstrates how Czech-origin principals have matured from domestic developers into stewards of institutional-grade assets that attract cross-border equity.

Marco Zarges operates at the intersection of Germany's acute residential shortage and institutional capital formation. Through ZAR Real Estate Holding and Zaga Capital, Zarges launched a €400 million fund in 2026, targeting the German living sector. The fund's scale reflects the depth of conviction among institutional allocators that Germany's housing deficit will persist as a structural driver of returns across the medium term.

Michael Abel, through GREYKITE, deploys significant private equity capital across European asset classes. Abel's background at TPG and subsequent pivot to a dedicated European vehicle positions GREYKITE as a conduit for global institutional capital seeking diversified exposure to the continent's real estate recovery.

These four principals represent distinct entry points into the DACH-CEE corridor, but the underlying capital thesis is convergent: Central Europe offers institutional-grade scale, regulatory convergence, and a demographic and economic profile that supports durable cash flows across living, logistics, and mixed-use asset classes.

What is driving institutional capital into Central Europe in 2026?

Three reinforcing dynamics explain the current acceleration of cross-border flows into the DACH-CEE corridor.

First, the recovery in European investment volumes is broadening beyond the core Western European markets. Savills forecasts that European real estate investment volumes will rise by around 18% in 2026 as pricing firms up and macroeconomic conditions stabilise. The commercial real estate market across Europe is forecast to reach USD 2.17 trillion by 2031, growing at a 5.73% CAGR over the 2026 to 2031 period, according to Mordor Intelligence. Within this expanding envelope, the DACH-CEE corridor benefits from relative value: yields in CEE markets remain above Western European benchmarks, while DACH markets offer liquidity and transparency that institutional mandates require.

Second, Germany's legislative agenda is creating new supply-side catalysts. The draft law amending the German Building Code, known as the Wohnungsbau-Turbo, was adopted by the Federal Cabinet in June 2025. The legislation aims to accelerate residential construction by simplifying changes of use and allowing larger buildings to exceed existing development plan limits, with an experimental clause planned until the end of 2030. For principals like Marco Zarges, this regulatory shift directly supports the deployment thesis behind large-scale residential funds.

Additionally, the Ninth Act Amending the Tax Consultancy Act introduces significant changes to the German Real Estate Transfer Tax Act regarding share deals. The draft legislation establishes the signing date as the priority taxation date to prevent multiple taxation, a reform that, if enacted, would materially reduce friction costs for institutional portfolio transactions and cross-border share deal structures.

Third, EU Directive 2024/1275, the new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, requires national implementation to gradually improve the energy quality of the building stock. Germany must transpose the directive into national law by May 2026. Compliance with the EPBD is accelerating capital expenditure on energy retrofits and creating a performance gap between upgraded and legacy assets. Principals with the balance sheet capacity to fund retrofits at scale, and the operational expertise to manage the transition, gain a competitive advantage in asset selection and value creation.

The corridor thesis: from country bets to a unified capital framework

The DACH-CEE corridor is emerging as a distinct allocation category for institutional investors. The logic is straightforward: Austria and Germany provide deep, liquid markets with strong rule of law and transparent transaction processes, while the Czech Republic, Poland, and neighbouring CEE economies offer yield premium, demographic tailwinds, and urbanisation-driven demand growth.

The principals profiled in this analysis exemplify how the corridor functions in practice. Josef Vollmayr scales a German-origin platform across DACH and into broader Europe. Radim Passer transforms Czech urban assets into institutional-quality holdings. Marco Zarges channels institutional equity into Germany's residential deficit. Michael Abel intermediates global private equity capital into diversified European real estate.

The 47% investor preference for DACH and the 29% appetite for CEE, as documented by the Drooms Real Estate Trends Report, should be read together. The overlap in investor interest suggests that a significant share of institutional allocators already evaluates both regions in the same portfolio construction exercise. The corridor is a reality in capital allocation terms, even if it lacks a formal market designation.

GRI Institute has observed this convergence through its European convenings, where cross-border deal flow between DACH and CEE markets is an increasingly prominent theme among senior decision-makers. The institute's Deutsche GRI and pan-European strategy discussions have drawn significant attention from principals, asset managers, and institutional investors operating across the corridor.

Outlook: institutional maturation accelerates

The trajectory is clear. European investment volumes are expanding, DACH deal values are rising at a pace that outstrips volume growth, and CEE markets are consolidating their position as a credible complement to core Western European allocations. Regulatory reform in Germany, from accelerated residential permitting to transfer tax modernisation, is reducing structural barriers to institutional deployment. ESG compliance requirements, driven by the EPBD, are raising the bar for operational excellence and favouring principals with institutional-grade capabilities.

The DACH-CEE corridor represents one of the most compelling cross-border investment narratives in European real estate today. The principals shaping it, Josef Vollmayr, Radim Passer, Marco Zarges, and Michael Abel among them, are building portfolios that will define the institutional landscape of Central Europe for the next cycle. For senior leaders tracking capital flows and partnership opportunities across the region, this corridor warrants sustained attention.

The convergence of regulatory reform, ESG mandates, and post-correction pricing is creating a rare alignment of conditions for institutional-grade deployment across Central Europe. Principals who can operate across the DACH-CEE axis with both local depth and cross-border scale are best positioned to capture this cycle's value creation.

As European commercial real estate enters a period of projected 5.73% annual growth through 2031, the DACH-CEE corridor stands to absorb a disproportionate share of institutional capital seeking both yield and structural resilience.