The housing market seems to have calmed down somewhat in hotspots like Hamburg. At least that’s what the current rental compass of the Immowelt portal shows. Accordingly, rents are stagnating or falling in particularly high-priced cities – Hamburg is one of them.
In order to determine how rental prices have developed, according to Immowelt, the square meter prices offered on its portal for existing apartments (80 square meters, 3 rooms, 2nd floor) in the third quarter of 2021 were compared with the previous quarter. It emerged that rents had risen in only five out of 14 large cities. For comparison: in the previous year, existing rents had risen in eight major cities.
New study: Rents increase in Hamburg stopped
A small reason for hope for those looking for accommodation is likely to be that rents will stagnate in six cities, including Hamburg and Bremen, Essen, Dresden, Nuremberg and Munich. In Dortmund, Frankfurt and Stuttgart, rents have even fallen, according to Immowelt.
Tenants can hardly afford an apartment in the city area
Why is it that rents for existing apartments are stagnating in popular cities like Hamburg, after prices have risen steeply for years? “In addition to market relief, for example through subsidized new construction, there are also simple market mechanisms that dampen price growth,” says Jan-Carl Mehles, Group Leader Market Research and PR at Immowelt. “The limit of what is affordable has been reached in some places.”
In other words: Many tenants have great problems to afford an apartment in the urban area and the landlords apparently find it increasingly difficult to find prospects with higher prices. The price per square meter in Hamburg is currently stagnating at EUR 10.89.
Hamburg rents are stagnating, in Berlin they continue to rise
While rents are no longer rising in large cities like Hamburg or Munich, things are different in the capital. One reason: After the rent cap introduced in April failed before the Federal Constitutional Court and was therefore overturned, the feared catch-up effects are now occurring on the Berlin rental market, according to Immowelt. The price per square meter in Berlin is currently 9.39 euros on average. At the beginning of the year, the low was € 9.06.
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“We are assuming that there will be further price increases and that rents will be above the level before the rent cap at the beginning of next year,” said Mehles. It remains to be seen whether and when stagnation will also occur in the capital.
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