Berlin, September 18, 2018 – In 2017, a total of 125,821 existing and newly built condominiums were sold in the 81 major cities included in the survey. This represents a decrease of 7,490 sales, or 5.62 percent, compared to the previous year. Sales figures declined particularly sharply in the major cities: In Stuttgart (-14.98%), Cologne (-13.64%), Hamburg (-12.54%), Frankfurt am Main (-12.54%), and Munich (-10.01%), sales fell by double-digit percentages in each case. These are the findings of the latest ACCENTRO Homeownership Report.
Total sales revenue from condominium sales, however, declined only slightly. With a 1.32 percent drop to 30.13 billion euros, the figure fell slightly short of the previous year’s record of 30.87 billion euros. At 2.52 percent, the decline in sales revenue in the top seven cities is greater than the average for all major cities; only Düsseldorf and Berlin are bucking the trend. “Total sales remaining at a similar level to the previous year despite declining absolute sales figures indicate relatively steady demand amid rising housing prices,” explains Jacopo Mingazzini, CEO of ACCENTRO Real Estate AG.
Housing Price Trends Remain Positive
While sales revenue and absolute sales figures are declining, housing prices in major German cities continued to rise in 2017. The average sales price rose by 4.56 percent in 2017, compared to a 7.73 percent increase recorded the previous year. On average, an apartment in the major German cities included in the survey cost 239,493 euros in 2017.
Above-Average Price Increases in Major Cities However, a different picture emerges in the major cities, all of which—with the exception of Cologne—recorded above-average price increases. On average, sales prices in the top seven cities rose by 6.78 percent in 2017. In Düsseldorf in particular, apartment prices rose significantly by 18.82 percent; in Hamburg, too, sales revenue per transaction increased by 13.17 percent. Although sales revenue per transaction in Berlin also rose in 2017 (by 5.50 percent), the increase in 2016 had been 16.73 percent. In Cologne, however, sales per transaction actually declined slightly in 2017. “The results of this year’s study confirm that new construction is not keeping pace with the consistently high demand,” Mingazzini continued.
Shift to the Suburbs of Major Cities
A shortage of housing supply in major cities—due to strong population growth coupled with insufficient new construction—is making the suburbs of these cities, which also have good infrastructure, increasingly attractive. For example, average sales prices in Offenbach are 42.16 percent lower than in Frankfurt, and in Bonn they are 23.29 percent lower than in Cologne. Between 2012 and 2017, average housing prices rose by 90.71 percent in Offenbach, 68.06 percent in Darmstadt, 61.20 percent in Mainz, and 40.08 percent in Potsdam. Just like Heilbronn (up 71.50 percent), Darmstadt (up 68.06 percent), and Lübeck (up 39.59 percent), these cities—located in metropolitan regions—saw significantly stronger price growth than the average.
Shortage of Supply Leads to Decline in New-Construction Transactions
In 2017, 49 of the 82 major cities surveyed reported a decline in new-construction transactions. This is neither a regional phenomenon nor one limited exclusively to metropolitan areas or secondary cities, but rather a nationwide trend. Only two of the metropolitan areas showed a positive trend in new-construction sales figures for 2017. While Düsseldorf’s transaction figures are growing at a significantly slower pace than in 2016—up 7.00 percent—Berlin posted a slight increase of 1.84 percent. In other major cities, however, transaction figures are declining sharply: in Cologne, for example, by 38.65 percent; in Hamburg and Munich, by 28.01 and 27.18 percent, respectively.
About the ACCENTRO Homeownership Report
This marks the eleventh time that ACCENTRO Real Estate AG has published the Homeownership Report. 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 individually.
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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