The current economic situation is challenging all German citizens. Many complained about the tight rental market even before the start of high inflation. Where can tenants still afford a decent flat today. Where can one buy inexpensive flats?
For a new study by the Institute of the German Economy (IW), scientists evaluated the development of rents and wages over the past three years. According to the study, housing has become more expensive in most districts of the republic. For Munich, the formula still applies: Expensive, more expensive, Munich. A single household with a medium income that does not want to spend more than 25 per cent on it gets just 36.2 square metres of living space. The most expensive districts also include Freiburg im Breisgau (third place), Frankfurt am Main (sixth place) and Offenbach (seventh place).
But expensive does not mean that people can afford less today than they could in 2018: by 2021, wages have risen more than rents. This means for some cities: average households can afford more living space there. Overall, however, the evaluation shows that affordability has fallen in 75 percent of the districts in the period from 2018 to 2021.
The situation is similar for properties for sale. After significant price corrections in the second quarter of up to 5.3 per cent for newly built condominiums, asking prices are rising moderately again in the third quarter, according to ImmoScout24. With a price increase of between 0.5 and 1.7 per cent, asking prices in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Hamburg and Frankfurt am Main nevertheless remain around 100 to 200 euros per square metre below the level of the first quarter of 2022.
With a price increase of 1.2 per cent, Munich remains by far the most expensive metropolis in Germany. The price per square metre in the third quarter is around 9,837 euros, more than 3,000 euros higher than in the other metropolises. In a comparison of the seven metropolises, Cologne remains the only metropolis with an asking price per square metre below the €6,000 mark. In the remaining metropolises, asking prices range from just under 6,400 to 6,700 euros per square metre.
(Photo: © Stefan Bernsmann, Pixabay)
