Berlin, September 25, 2018 – With 21,377 units sold in 2017 (22,549 units in 2016),Berlin remains the clear leader nationwide. Munich ranks second by a wide margin with 9,950 units. However, the capital recorded a 5.20 percent decline in the number of apartments sold—down from 7.42 percent in 2016—marking the second consecutive year of decline. Since home prices in Berlin rose by 5.5 percent to 263,966 euros—up from 250,215 euros in 2016—the total sales volume remained stable at 5.64 billion euros, as in the previous year. These findings are taken from the eleventh ACCENTRO Homeownership Report 2018, which analyzed data from the appraisal committees for the 81 largest German housing markets.
Price Growth in Berlin Slows
Compared to the previous year, Berlin’s price growth—at 5.50 percent—was only slightly above the national average of 4.56 percent, but lagged behind the trends in Munich (6.03 percent), Hamburg (13.17 percent), and Frankfurt (9.01 percent). In 2016, Berlin had recorded a 16.73 percent increase. “After the enormous price jumps over the past ten years, the trend is now stabilizing for the time being. However, the figures in the German capital continue to point upward,” says Mingazzini. In the last ten years alone, sales prices for condominiums in Berlin have risen by 134.63 percent. In a ten-year comparison, Berlin remains the German city with the strongest price increase. However, if the long-term comparison is narrowed to the past five years, Berlin slips to tenth place.
Prices Still Have Significant Room for Growth
Berlin’s sales prices remain relatively low compared to other major cities. Although total sales revenue in Berlin is 26.69 percent higher than in Munich, this is due to the high number of sales. These are more than twice as high in the capital. “A comparison with other top locations shows that the Berlin housing market still has considerable potential to catch up,” says Mingazzini. For example, apartment prices in Munich are nearly 70 percent higher, while in Hamburg, the average sales volume per transaction is about 52 percent higher. Among the top seven cities, only Cologne has a similar level of apartment prices to Berlin. Since the survey began, the highest sales prices per transaction have been recorded in Munich. However, in 2017, its lead over Frankfurt and Hamburg narrowed somewhat. In all three cities, the average apartment price exceeded 400,000 euros in 2017. As in the previous year, Berlin ranks 12th in the sales price ranking.
Sales of New-Construction Apartments Increase Slightly
In Berlin, sales volume has remained constant despite declining sales figures, which can be explained in particular by the increased proportion of new-construction apartments among those sold. With 5,711 transactions compared to 5,608 units in 2016, sales of new-construction apartments rose slightly by 1.84 percent. Alongside Düsseldorf, Berlin is the only one of the top seven metropolitan areas to have recorded a positive trend in new-construction sales figures in 2017. Nationwide, sales figures for new-construction apartments have declined (by 14.63 percent). The gap to second-place Munich continues to widen. In the Bavarian capital, 3,000 new condominiums were sold. “The focus of investment is shifting more and more toward the federal capital, because Berlin still has significantly more room for growth than Munich, both in terms of prices and available building land,” said Mingazzini. “The stable sales figures make it clear that the federal capital continues to hold great appeal for buyers of new-construction apartments,” Mingazzini added. Since 2007, the number of transactions in Berlin has increased fourteenfold. In 2007, for example, only 381 newly built condominiums were sold. Although growth has now slowed significantly, Berlin still performs very strongly relative to the overall market.
About the ACCENTRO Homeownership Report
ACCENTRO Real Estate AG is publishing the Homeownership Report for the eleventh time. The analysis is based on homeownership transactions from the 2017 reporting year in all 82 major German cities. By drawing on data from appraisal committees, the report differs significantly from similar publications, which are usually based on expert estimates or the analysis of listing data. Detailed results from the ACCENTRO Homeownership Report on the top 7 cities and trends over the past 10 years are also available online in the ACCENTRO database and can be filtered according to your specific criteria.
About ACCENTRO Real Estate AG
ACCENTRO Real Estate AG is a residential real estate investor and the market leader in residential privatization in Germany. As of December 31, 2020, its real estate portfolio comprised approximately 5,200 units. In addition to Berlin, its regional focus includes major East German cities and metropolitan areas, as well as the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region and Bavaria. ACCENTRO’s business activities encompass four core areas. These include the tenant-oriented sale of apartments to owner-occupiers and private investors, the sale of real estate portfolios to institutional investors, the development and management of its own real estate portfolio, and the marketing of apartments for property owners, investors, and project developers. The shares of ACCENTRO Real Estate AG are listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (WKN: A0KFKB, ISIN: DE000A0KFKB3). investors.accentro.de
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