Core, core-plus and value-add are three of the four risk classes into which investors sort property — from stable income that needs no active management to buildings that need re-letting, refurbishment or repositioning. For a supermarket the class sets the price directly: at the end of 2025, BNP Paribas Real Estate put the best at up to 18.5 times annual rent, core-plus at 15.5 and value-add at 12.5.
What it is
Risk classes are a market convention, not a legal category. The fourth class, opportunistic, matters less for supermarkets than the first three (see Part 12 of the series German Prime Retail).
- Core: the store passes all seven tests. They are a long lease with a leading retailer, a location with prospects for decades, full occupancy, high construction quality, a reliable developer, a low probability of capital loss, and liquidity at an acceptable yield. The return comes from rent, not speculation.
- Core-plus: at least one feature is missing — a shorter remaining lease term, a slightly weaker location, a tenant outside the first tier. Some active management is needed.
- Value-add: the property needs serious work — re-letting, refurbishment or repositioning.
Exhibit 1. Core commands up to 18.5 times rent and drew €970 million in 2025; value-add played a minor role
Source: BNP Paribas Real Estate, Q4 2025.
Why it matters to investors
The "plus" in core-plus is often sold as extra upside. The logic runs the other way: the plus means extra risk, for which the investor should earn extra yield. Bought at a sensible price, core-plus can be an excellent investment; bought at a core price, it is overpriced. At a rent of €500,000, the gap between 15.5 and 18.5 times annual rent is €1.5 million (Part 12).
A class is not a lifelong label. Each year the remaining lease term shortens, and a core store slides gradually towards core-plus. The reverse also happens. According to BNP Paribas Real Estate, extending a store to a modern format in most cases brings a substantial rent increase and a new long lease, most often for 15 years. That requires a plot with room to grow (Part 5).
Core protects the income, not the price. The prime net initial yield for retail parks rose from 3.50% at the end of 2021 to 4.75% in September 2026 — at an unchanged rent, about a quarter off the value (Part 12).
What to check
• All seven core tests: in outline before a letter of intent, in full before the purchase contract is signed.
• Which feature a core-plus property lacks, and whether the price reflects it.
• The lease signatory and the fixed remaining term, without the tenant's options.
• For value-add, whether the development plan allows an extension or a change of tenant, and what the works will cost.
• The depth of the buyer market for this class and lot size at the time of a future sale.
Sources: BNP Paribas Real Estate, German food-retail investment market report for Q4 2025 and retail investment market report for Q3 2026; Gordon Real Estate Group, "German Prime Retail", Parts 5 and 12. Data as of 10 October 2026.
Photo: Alex Block / Unsplash
This entry is general information and not legal or tax advice.