Higher interest rates, expensive building materials, high inflation: many people can no longer afford to buy real estate and are switching to rented apartments. For example, rents in large and medium-sized cities are rising much faster than prices, also because rental apartments are in even greater demand with strong immigration. This shows a new study by the real estate specialist Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), which is available to the German Press Agency. In the counties, on the other hand, rents and prices are rising equally.
In the eight metropolises of Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Leipzig and Stuttgart, asking rents rose by an average of 6.3 percent in the second half of 2022 compared to the same period last year and thus more than the advertised prices (1.6 percent). . According to JLL, prices fell by 3.1 percent in the first half of the year. With the sharp increase in interest rates on loans, real estate prices in Germany have recently fallen in many places, albeit from a high level.
According to the study, the long-standing trend of prices rising faster than rents has reversed. Over a five-year period, asking prices in major cities have risen by an average of 9.1 percent a year and rents by 3.7 percent a year.
JLL: Immigration increases demand for rental apartments
In the past year, the population has grown due to the high level of immigration, which has fueled the demand for rental apartments, said JLL expert Roman Heidrich. “This is largely due to the many war refugees from Ukraine, but international immigration has also increased again after the weaker Corona years.” In addition, the new building is too weak to relieve the rental housing market.
Away from the metropolises, the picture is divided. Rents also grew significantly faster than purchase prices in the urban districts: excluding the eight major cities, the rise in rents there was 4.4 percent in the second half of the year, while purchase prices rose by 0.6 percent.
In the rural districts, on the other hand, advertised purchase prices increased by 6.1 percent, as did advertised rents by 6.0 percent. This means that rents grew significantly more strongly than the medium-term average and prices, despite a weakening, more strongly than in the metropolises and urban districts.
One reason for the significant price increases is the shift in population to rural areas, said Heidrich. Many households with low and middle incomes no longer wanted or could afford the rents in the big cities and are moving out. “On the other hand, an effect of increased home office as a consequence of Corona can clearly be observed.” That drives up rents and prices. The construction of new rental apartments in the districts has also been below average in recent years, which is now leading to higher rents with increasing demand.
The study by JLL coincides with an analysis by the German Economic Institute (IW), which recently identified a disproportionately strong increase in rents in Germany.
