Germany has had a magnetic draw for Adrian O’Sullivan since he first visited there as an 18-year-old in 1988. The Clonakilty native was taking time out back then after his Leaving Cert to travel around Europe before planning to study law at UCC.
O’Sullivan picked up a job as a dishwasher at the Sheraton Hotel in Munich and phoned his “poor unfortunate mother” to tell her he wanted to defer for a year as he was enjoying himself so much.
“I often say that that’s the best job I ever had, because I never woke up at 3am worrying about dirty dishes and I never took any of it home,” he says.
O’Sullivan progressed to other roles within the hotel group, instilling in him a desire to explore a life outside of Ireland. After a year back in Cork studying European Affairs, he found himself back in Germany in early 1990.
It was a time of great transformation there, with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and reunification of the two parts of the country. A chance meeting with an auctioneer led him on the career path he has pursued ever since as a property investment specialist and entrepreneur.
O’Sullivan has mixed property, with ownership of bars, restaurants and night clubs in Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland and the US, as well as an online training company, the Olive Group, while living and working in Ireland and Germany at various times.
He met his German-born wife Kerstin while living in Ireland and, in 2004, they made a permanent move to Berlin with their young family where he established European Property Investment with a number of partners. The firm created investment vehicles, primarily for non-German investors, including many clients from Ireland.
“When we were having the boom years in Ireland in the Noughties, Germany was in recession. Prices were very cheap, relative to Dublin. You could buy an apartment block with 10 apartments here for what you would pay for one large apartment in Dublin.
“By the time the crash came, we had about €500 million of property under management.”
Sometimes Irish people have come here thinking they can do things the same was as they can in Cahersiveen, but that doesn’t work
Such was the frenzy for property investment, O’Sullivan recalls placing an ad in an Irish Sunday newspaper for one commercial opportunity and receiving 150 calls the following morning.
“I remember one solicitor who wanted to know where he could send a cheque straight away for €250,000. There was a huge fear of missing out.”
While German property experienced steady growth in the following years, many of these investors – regular business owners in Ireland – came under huge pressure at home when the crash occurred as they were highly leveraged. Many were forced to sell up their German assets before they had the chance to grow significantly, he explains.
O’Sullivan and his partners downsized the business and pivoted into property development.
“Property is a long-term investment. From 2007 to 2012, property went up by 25 per cent, and from 2014 to 2020, property went up by 300 per cent. It you can stay in, it will generally come right for you.”
O’Sullivan acknowledges, however, that prices have fallen around 40 cent since Covid. “It’s not making headlines but the building industry in particular is in recession, along with there being problems in the wider economy. We’ve a new government here now so let’s see what that brings.”
Having spent the last 20 years in Germany, O’Sullivan has noticed subtle changes in the culture, with the increasing influence of US culture on younger people and more mid-Atlantic accents.
“There’s been a lot of change in that time and I would say that I prefer the Berlin of 20 years ago, but then most people would say they preferred the Dublin of 20 years ago too.”
There is also less formality now than there once was, but there is still a lot more bureaucracy than in Ireland and rules are strictly enforced.
“When I came here first, what I often remarked upon was that, for Germans, everything is absolutely forbidden unless it allowed whereas, for the Irish, everything is allowed unless it is absolutely forbidden. Sometimes Irish people have come here thinking they can do things the same was as they can in Cahersiveen, but that doesn’t work.”
O’Sullivan enjoys the cultural attractions of Berlin and remains close to the Irish community, including strong involvement in one of the city’s GAA clubs, Setanta Berlin. He has also served as president of the German Irish Council.
He has no plans to return to live in Ireland in the foreseeable future.
“Berlin is a fantastic city that comes into its own in the summer with the Tiergarten (a huge city park featuring a zoo and cultural attractions) providing a great lung. While I enjoy visits back to Ireland regularly, I always feel happy when the plane lands back in Berlin – except for the terrible airport.”
