Berlin, September 24, 2019 – With 18,885 units sold in 2018, Berlin remains the national leader in the German housing market. Munich follows far behind in second place with 9,846 units. With a decline of 11.66 percent, the capital recorded the largest drop in the number of apartments sold among Germany’s top seven cities (2017: 21,377 units). In contrast, home prices in Berlin rose by 21.83 percent last year, from an average of 263,966 euros (2017) to 321,578 euros. Total sales volume rose to 6.07 billion euros (2017: 5.64 billion euros). These figures are taken from the twelfth ACCENTRO Homeownership Report 2019, which analyzed data from the appraisal committees for Germany’s 82 major cities.
Sharp Rise in Price Growth in Berlin
With an increase of about one-fifth compared to the previous year, price growth in Berlin was significantly above the national average of 6.82 percent. Higher growth rates were recorded only in Halle, Reutlingen, Jena, and Hildesheim. “In a ten-year comparison of the top seven cities, Berlin remains the German city with the highest price growth. Since 2008, sales prices have risen by 170.84 percent,” says Jacopo Mingazzini, CEO of ACCENTRO Real Estate AG. In a comparison of the top 7 cities, Munich recorded the second-highest price growth with an increase of 8.02 percent. Only in Düsseldorf did prices decline by 2.59 percent.
Berlin Ranks Fifth in Sales Revenue Per Transaction
Thanks to the well-above-average price increase last year, sales prices in Berlin have significantly caught up with those in other major cities. The German capital climbed from twelfth to fifth place in terms of average sales revenue per transaction. Only Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Düsseldorf command higher average prices. In terms of total sales revenue, Berlin continues to lead the table by a significant margin ahead of Munich, thanks to high sales volumes. “For a long time, Berlin’s housing market was considered particularly affordable among German cities. The significant price momentum over the past year has partially made up for this gap. As a result, total sales—despite a further decline in the number of sales—were able to break through the 6 billion euro mark for the first time,” said Mingazzini.
Sales of New-Construction Apartments on the Decline Again
The number of new-construction apartments sold decreased by 21.24 percent compared to 2017, from 5,711 transactions to 4,498. This marks a decline following a slight increase from 2016 to 2017. Among the top seven cities, only Hamburg saw an increase in new-construction sales last year, with a rise of 14.89 percent. Nationwide, sales figures for new-construction residential properties also fell by 11 percent. “Despite the decline in new-construction transactions last year, Berlin remains a highly sought-after location. While the number of sales transactions fell in the other top-7 cities, it rose by 77.3 percent in Berlin during the same period. If the Berlin Senate were to take measures to address the growing shortage of housing units and building land, transaction numbers would rise again,” says Mingazzini.
About the ACCENTRO Homeownership Report
ACCENTRO Real Estate AG is publishing its Homeownership Report for the twelfth time. The analysis is based on homeownership transactions in the 2018 reporting year across 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 Germany’s ten most populous cities and trends over the past eleven 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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