The past few months have not been pleasant for many tenants. In addition to the increased heating costs, a rent increase often fluttered into the house. The situation is particularly difficult for tenants who are looking for a new place to live. Current figures on the rental market from Immoscout and Immowelt show how dramatic the situation in the metropolises is.
The two housing portals have each examined hundreds of thousands of rental advertisements placed with them and have found that there is insufficient supply in the cities and there is increased demand. The consequences are sometimes exorbitant jumps in asking rents. Immoscout managing director Gesa Crockford even speaks of “partly historical developments”. In Berlin and Stuttgart, for example, asking rents for new buildings have risen by 8 and 9 percent respectively in the past three months alone.
In its rental evaluation of offers for existing apartments in Berlin, the competitor platform Immowelt even achieved an increase of 22 percent in the first quarter of 2023. Immowelt manager Felix Kusch calls this an “outlier among major German cities”. According to Immowelt, the prices for rental offers in ten of the 14 cities surveyed rose at the beginning of the year – but nowhere nearly as sharply as in Berlin. “Since too little is being built in the German capital, the high demand for living space cannot be met, which enables landlords to push through ever higher prices,” says Kusch. It remains to be seen whether this momentum will weaken over the course of the year.
In addition to short-term increases in rental prices, Immoscout also looks at the annual trend. “How dramatic the development in the metropolises actually is becomes clear in a year-on-year comparison,” says Gesa Crockford. Because the evaluation shows: Across Germany, asking rents rose by an average of seven to eight percent last year. In the metropolises it is sometimes significantly more.
According to Immoscout, existing apartments in Berlin are now around 15 percent more expensive and new-build apartments 20 percent more expensive than a year ago. Strong increases have also been recorded in Munich, Düsseldorf and Cologne. On an annual basis, Frankfurt shows the most moderate rental development of the top 7 cities, but it is still expensive there.
increase inventory
Miete File (je qm)
increase in new construction
Rent new building (per sqm)
Germany
7.4%
8,01 Euro
7.7%
11,01 Euro
Berlin
14.7%
12,56 Euro
19.9%
17,64 Euro
Dusseldorf
11.4%
11,70 Euro
11.0%
14,02 Euro
Frankfurt
5.6%
13,24 Euro
8.3%
16,02 Euro
Hamburg
11.5%
12,98 Euro
8.1%
15,20 Euro
Cologne
12.3%
12,55 Euro
10.9%
14,05 Euro
Munich
11.6%
18,44 Euro
17.01%
22,30 Euro
Stuttgart
6.1%
13,10 Euro
19.1%
17,55 Euro
Source: Immoscout
The shortage of rental apartments is currently being exacerbated from two sides. On the one hand, higher construction costs and interest rates are slowing down new residential construction. On the other hand, more people are looking for rental apartments who cannot afford to own a home at current prices and interest rates. According to Immoscout, the demand for rental apartments in some metropolises has recently increased again. In Berlin and Hamburg it has even doubled compared to 2019.
For the few apartments on offer, applicants are queuing up despite the high rents. At least in the popular big cities: In the metropolis, the competition for a rental apartment is about six times as high as in rural areas, reports Immoscout. Therefore, many tenants are increasingly looking in the commuter belt and in rural areas.
