FRANKFURT, Aug 24 Reuters German property developer Gerch said on Thursday it had filed an application for restructuring proceedings with a local court, the latest real estate firm to run into financial trouble as the sector suffers its biggest crisis in decades.

Duesseldorfbased Gerch, founded in 2016 and with a current project volume valued at 4 billion euros 4.3 billion, said in a statement the move was due to imminent inability to pay.

It is the latest sign of strain in Germany39;s property sector, which long benefited from an era of cheap money that fuelled a boom in real estate, but is now grappling with a major turn of fortune.

Gerch has been hit by external factors as the entire construction and project development industry is in trouble due to the Ukraine war, inflation and the current largely collapsed transaction market, Gerch said in an emailed statement.

Gerch said the move affected four of the firm39;s units and that the Duesseldorf court had ordered provisional selfadministration.

Mathias Duesterdick, CEO of Gerch, last month told Reuters the turn of events in the sector was worrying and predicted difficulties for developers.

This is only the beginning. We will see more insolvencies in the coming months, he said.

But he said Gerch was in the fortunate position of not having projects that were nearing completion and would need to be sold, for which there would certainly be no market.

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Reporting by Tom Sims, Editing by Rachel More…