It is becoming increasingly difficult for many people to find affordable housing in the city. The federal government recently invited people to a major housing summit in order to boost housing construction, which had collapsed. Most experts consider the measures adopted to be sensible, but not suitable for easing the overall situation in the short term.
The need for action is enormous: an evaluation by the housing portal Immoscout now shows how much the situation in the metropolises has recently deteriorated. In addition to rising rents, it is primarily the increase in search queries for rental apartments that illustrates the problem of the housing shortage. Despite rising rents, Immoscout recorded another 15 percent more inquiries for existing apartments in Munich and Cologne in the third quarter than in the second quarter. The situation is similar in other large cities.
The trend becomes even clearer when you look at the past four years. Since the end of 2019, demand for rental apartments in Berlin and Hamburg has more than doubled, reports Immoscout. In Frankfurt, Cologne and Munich, the number of contact inquiries also increased by 50 percent in the same period. “The German housing crisis is getting worse,” says Immoscout managing director Gesa Crockford, commenting on the development. “The demand for existing rental apartments continues to increase and impressively reflects the great lack of affordable apartments – especially in major cities.”
Increasing demand with limited supply – that drives up prices. Asking rents continued to rise across Germany in the third quarter. Existing apartments were 0.9 percent more expensive and new apartments were 2.7 percent more expensive than in the second quarter. In the seven largest cities, asking rents for existing apartments rose by an average of 0.7 percent, after more than 2 percent in the second quarter.
If you compare the current offers for rental apartments with those from a year ago, the increase is sometimes steep. Anyone looking for a rental apartment in Berlin pays 12.6 percent more rent for an existing property than twelve months ago and 19.1 percent more for a new building. In Munich the figures are 9.1 percent (existing) and 14 percent (new buildings) more, in Cologne 8.4 and 11.7 percent respectively (see tables).
Q3 2022 and Q3 2023
Basic rent 70 sqm
Germany
5.1%
580 Euro
Berlin
12.6%
906 Euro
Dusseldorf
8.1%
850 Euro
Frankfurt am Main
3.9%
957 Euro
Hamburg
3.9%
937 Euro
Cologne
8.4%
909 Euro
Munich
9.1%
1355 Euro
Stuttgart
7.3%
947 Euro
Q3 2022 and Q3 2023
Basic rent 70 sqm
Germany
6.5%
809 Euro
Berlin
19.1%
1314 Euro
Dusseldorf
11.8%
1044 Euro
Frankfurt am Main
7.8%
1166 Euro
Hamburg
5.4%
1102 Euro
Cologne
11.7%
1044 Euro
Munich
14.0%
1654 Euro
Stuttgart
16.3%
1275 Euro
Source: Immoscout24 living barometer
If you can’t find anything affordable in the city, you’ll have to move away. “In the surrounding areas of major cities, the range of rental apartments is still larger and also cheaper,” Immoscout recently found in a separate evaluation. The further away from the city center, the cheaper the apartments tend to be. However, rents are also rising in the surrounding areas of expensive metropolises – according to the analysis, they recently rose more sharply around Berlin and Stuttgart than in the center.
