Living in the surrounding area is becoming more expensive

A current evaluation by ImmoScout24 shows how flat rents differ according to distance from the city centre in the seven metropolises. Supply and demand are increasingly diverging. In the surrounding areas of the major cities, flat hunters mostly find lower rents. However, the rent differential between the city centre and the surrounding areas is decreasing compared to the previous year.

"In the surrounding areas of the metropolises, the supply of rental flats is still greater and also cheaper. However, we see that the situation in the surrounding areas is getting worse and that rents are rising faster there than in the metropolises in some cases. This can be observed most clearly in Berlin and the surrounding area," explains Dr Gesa Crockford, Managing Director of ImmoScout24.

Due to rising rents in the metropolises, flat hunters are increasingly moving to the surrounding areas. This is because the further away the new rental flat is from the city centre, the more flat hunters can save. The possible savings can vary greatly depending on the metropolis. While flat hunters within a radius of 16 to 30 kilometres from Düsseldorf's city centre can save an average of 27 per cent, this figure is only about eight per cent for the same radius in Berlin. If flat hunters are prepared to rent 76 to 100 kilometres from the city centre, they can expect a savings potential of almost 47 per cent in Munich, for example.

Compared to the previous year, in three of the seven metropolises the potential rent savings from moving to the surrounding area drops significantly. In Berlin, the savings potential fell the most from 2022 to 2023. Within a radius of 16 to 30 kilometres from the city centre, around 13.7 per cent of the rent could still be saved in 2022. Within one year, the rent difference has fallen to 8.3 per cent.

The situation is similar in Stuttgart. The rent difference within a radius of 76 to 100 kilometres has fallen by more than four percentage points in the past twelve months. Flat hunters in the Cologne area, on the other hand, can look forward to an increase in the savings potential of up to ten percentage points within a radius of 31 to 100 kilometres compared to the previous year. Rents in the centre of Cologne have risen significantly more than in the surrounding area. In Hamburg's surrounding area, flat hunters can find up to 29 per cent cheaper asking rents, as in the previous year.

(Graphic: © ImmoScout24)