Buying your own four walls in Germany is becoming more and more expensive. In view of the persistently high demand, there is no end in sight to the price hike. According to preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office, buyers of condominiums and houses nationwide had to pay an average of 10.9 percent more in the second quarter than a year earlier. It was the strongest increase since the start of the time series in 2000. In the first quarter of 2021, the purchase prices for one and two-family houses and apartments had increased by an average of 8.9 percent according to the latest calculations by statisticians.
“The combination of low interest rates, uninterrupted high demand and, especially in the metropolitan areas, low supply means that prices continue to rise,” a study by the Sparda banks published in May found. At the same time, the construction costs have risen due to the high demands on security and energy efficiency.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Düsseldorf continue to be at the top. One- and two-family houses there cost an average of 14.7 percent more than in the second quarter of 2020. The prices for condominiums rose by 12.9 percent. In rural areas, too, things are now increasing, albeit mostly from a lower level. Property buyers in sparsely populated rural districts had to pay an average of 11.8 percent more for houses than in the same quarter of the previous year, while apartments rose by 9.2 percent. The development was similar in independent large cities away from the metropolises.