Despite significantly higher demand on the German real estate market, prices for many properties for sale fell slightly in the spring.

In seven out of eight major cities, asking prices for existing condominiums were largely stable from April to June compared to the previous quarter, as the real estate platform ImmoScout24 reported on Tuesday. Nationwide, however, prices fell by 1.1 percent here and by 2.1 percent for new-build apartments. One reason for this is that there are fewer new construction projects and they are increasingly being built on the outskirts of cities rather than in the city center. "This results in less dynamic price development."

Overall, however, ImmoScout24 sees signs of an upturn in the market. "The property purchase market is continuing to pick up speed, and the wait-and-see phase is over for both buyers and sellers," said ImmoScout24 Managing Director Gesa Crockford. Both contact and financing inquiries on the internet platform are therefore increasing significantly. "People want to buy again." At the same time, sellers are not expecting prices to fall any further and more single-family homes are coming onto the market.

This is particularly evident in metropolitan areas. According to the study, interest in buying - measured by contact inquiries on ImmoScout24 - increased by 47% year-on-year in the largest eight cities. This is the highest level since 2017 and the trend is also continuing in the areas surrounding the metropolitan areas (+36%). Purchase prices for existing homes across Germany were up 0.9 percent in the second quarter, but 0.6 percent below the previous quarter's level for newly built homes.

(Report by Klaus Lauer; edited by Reinhard Becker. - If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).