The market for residential real estate in Germany is gradually picking up again.

Demand for properties to buy is rising in all regions, according to an analysis by the Internet portal ImmoScout24 on Thursday. In the major cities, interest in properties for sale has increased by at least 33 percent. "In some parts of the country, there is now a kind of boom in demand again." Interest in buying is growing most strongly in more rural districts. "The demand to buy is growing strongly," said ImmoScout24 Managing Director Gesa Crockford. The latest interest rate cut by the European Central Bank has already been priced into financing rates and will ensure that the interest rate environment remains stable. Stable real estate prices can also be observed. "Anyone who can afford to buy now should seize the moment before prices rise again."

Demand for residential property has risen the most in the district of Fulda since the end of 2023. Demand there has more than doubled (+102 percent). According to the ImmoScout24 analysis, the districts of Dahme-Spreewald in Brandenburg (+92%) and Erding in Upper Bavaria (+90%), where the metropolitan areas of Berlin and Munich are particularly close, have seen a similarly high increase. Demand rose by 33 percent in Berlin and 37 percent in Munich.

It is not only the proximity to metropolitan areas that is causing an increase in demand. Often it is also tourist regions such as the district of Wittmund in East Frisia (+80 percent) or the district of Lindau on Lake Constance (+72 percent). According to the data, four of the ten districts with significantly higher demand are located in Bavaria, two each in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse.

In contrast, other sectors of the real estate market suffered from the slump in the industry, which is struggling with increased construction costs and high interest rates, among other things. According to figures from the Association of German Pfandbrief Banks (vdp), prices for office properties fell by 9.9 percent in the first quarter of the year. Retail properties also fell at the beginning of the year.

(Report by Klaus Lauer and Matthias Inverardi, edited by Olaf Brenner. 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).)