Federal Statistical Office: Residential real estate is rising rapidly

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View of residential buildings near Rottweil in Baden-Württemberg: Single and two-family houses were 15.5 percent more expensive in sparsely populated districts

Photo: Silas Stein / IMAGO

Homeownership is becoming increasingly unaffordable for many people: the rise in real estate prices in Germany has accelerated.

In the third quarter, according to preliminary calculations by the Federal Statistical Office, apartments and houses rose in price by an average of twelve percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

This is the largest price increase since the beginning of the time series in 2000. In the second quarter, the statisticians had already calculated an increase of 10.8 percent, which was also a record increase at the time.

Low interest rates, limited living space, a lack of investment alternatives, especially for large investors, and a robust economy have been driving the real estate boom for a long time.

With the corona crisis and the trend towards home offices, real estate is also increasingly in demand in rural areas.

Compared to the second quarter, apartments and one- and two-family houses were on average 4.2 percent more expensive, as it was said.

Price increase is likely to continue

The statisticians found a particularly strong price increase of 14.5 percent year-on-year not only in the seven largest German cities Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Düsseldorf.

Real estate prices rose rapidly even in sparsely populated rural districts.

There, single and two-family houses were 15.5 percent more expensive than in the same quarter of the previous year and condominiums by 11.2 percent.

In more densely populated rural districts, the prices for houses and apartments also increased significantly, according to the information: single and two-family houses there cost an average of twelve percent more than in the same quarter of the previous year, condominiums 12.3 percent.

According to a current market report by the official expert committees, an end to the price spiral is "not in sight".

The corona crisis has not changed the trend.

In the opinion of the experts, decisive factors remain low interest rates, insufficient building land and apartments, capacity bottlenecks in the construction industry and rising construction costs.

apr / dpa