General market information

• Author: Pinkel, Tobias
• Pages: 20-25

Consum er mar ket stud y on the fun ctio ning of the r eal estate servi ces for consum ers in the EU – Coun try Fiche Germ any

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2. Gener al m arket inf orm ation

2.1 Key market dat a

Ta ble 5: K ey m arke t da ta

Gene ra l m ar ket si tuat ion ( e.g .

tr en ds in the m arke t, re cent

de velopm en ts in t he m ark et , p rice

fluctu at ions, etc.)

Germany has a rel ati vely stabl e m arket for re siden tial pr oper ty, alt hou gh in t he past 1 0 y ears the short age of

resid ential pr operty in creas ed in sever al cit ies.

Overa ll, the prices f or resid ential prope rty ar e re lati vely stable. The overall pri ce in creas e in Germ any in

average f or bu ying re siden tial pr operty between 2 003 and 2 016 is a round 30% . Ho wever, the p rice incr ease

has accel erat ed over t he last fiv e year s. Mo reover, in some maj or cities, main ly in uni versit y t owns and/ or

cit ies wi th a bo omi ng i ndustry , a v ery h igh pri ce in crease over t he last fiv e yea rs could b e recor ded.

Exam ples a re (i ncre ase b etw een 20 10 and 20 15 for existing 3-room-flat s): Wolfsbur g wi th 69,4 % , Munich

wi th 61,3 % , Ber lin wit h 55 ,2 %, Stu ttg art wit h 5 4,8 % Brem en w ith 4 3,2 % and Cologne w ith 41,4 % .

Thi s dev elop men t se ems to cont inu e or even accelerate u nti l now.13

The p rices for bui ldin g la nd wi thin 127 lar ger citi es in Germany incr eased ev en by 63% betw een 2009 and

2016.14

Conc erni ng th e level of r ent, a sim ila r developm ent took place. Wh ile th e rents ov erall in Germ any incr eased

steadily but sligh tly, in som e ci ties the r ents in creased up t o 3 4 % bet ween 20 10 a nd 2 015.15

It is widely held th at t he sh ortage of resid enti al pr oper ty in m any cit ies is li nked to a redu ction of mun icipal

bu ilding progr ams. Very recently , sev eral cit ies hav e becom e m ore eng aged in thi s fi eld again . Howe ver, the

reasons for t his deve lopm ent ar e sev eral . Sp ecifi cally , an increase in the involv emen t of intern ational financi al

in vest ors in th e re siden tial market too k pl ace o ver th e last few y ears. It is argu ed t hat th e be havi our of these

in vest ors focusi ng on sh ort -ter m b enef its differ s st ron gly from th e behavi our of tr aditi onal acto rs. This

orien tat ion is l ikel y t o cont rib ute t o a rent in crease16. Addit ional ly, residen tial propert y in m ajo r Germ an cit ies

has b ecom e an obj ect of specul ation in the last yea rs, addi ng to th e pr ice in crease a s well 17. Also th e very low

intere st r ate s for mor tga ge l oans incr eased t he nu mbe r of tr ansact ions in the mar ket fo r resi dent ial prop ert y

and , t hereby, add to th e price incr ease

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. Last ly, it is ar gued t hat t he h igh level on buildin g regu lati ons

13 Based on t he data fr om Stat ista (2 017) .

14 Kh olo dil in (2 01 7) .

15 Ba sed o n t he d ata fro m St ati sta (20 17) .

16 Cf . e. g. Ho lm ( 20 08 ).

17 Cf . e. g. Kh olod ilin (20 17) .

18 Cf . e. g. Kh olod ilin (20 17) .