According to figures from JLL, the property agency, the combined value of deals in Frankfurt hit $10.2bn in 2018, up 88% from 2016. Investment in Berlin jumped by more than 90%, to $7.1bn.

Both Frankfurt and Berlin have pitched themselves as a location of choice for businesses after Brexit. Frankfurt in particular is keen to woo banks and other financial services firms that will need more employees on the continent to continue working with regional customers. Goldman Sachs, for example, has taken space in a new office tower in the city.

Late last year, IGIS Asset Management, the Korean fund manager, teamed up with Hana Financial Investment, another Korean investor, to spend €670m on Frankfurt’s Trianon tower, which is home to tenants including Germany’s central bank.

“We believe the [Frankfurt] market is evolving from German financial centre to European financial hub,” said Joseph Lee, chief executive of overseas investment at IGIS.

Other investment deals in Frankfurt last year included acquisitions from buyers entering the market for the first time. Fubon Life, the Taiwanese insurer, struck its first deal in Germany when it paid €530m for the Eurotower, occupied by the European Central Bank’s Single Supervisory Mechanism division.

CapitaLand Commercial Trust, the Singaporean real estate investment trust, made its first investment anywhere in Europe by buying the Gallileo office block, occupied by Commerzbank. Chief executive Kevin Chee has said the company is now looking for other investment targets in Germany.

CBRE, another property agency, said real estate investment across Europe hit a record €312bn in 2018. Germany had its second-highest level of annual investment on record, the firm said, at €77bn.