Rising interest rates: Hamburgers take out fewer loans

The rapidly rising interest rates for construction loans spoil the mood for many potential home buyers. Very astonishing: in no other federal state have loan amounts fallen as much as in Hamburg. After all, apartments and houses are still particularly expensive here. How high are the loans currently?

An investigation by the credit broker Dr. Klein now shows in which federal states and why borrowers have taken significantly less money for their dream of owning their own home. And indeed, Hamburg is way ahead of the other federal states. Loans in 2022 were eight percent below the previous year’s level of 2021.

So far, Hamburg (2021) has been the only federal state in which house and apartment buyers have taken out loans above the magic 500,000 euro mark. On average, it was exactly 524,520 euros. For the past year, the sum was reduced to 483,950 euros, i.e. around 40,000 euros less. An eight percent drop.

Construction loans: Hamburgers take on less money

The amount of credit taken out also fell nationwide, but only by five percent and 10,000 to 20,000 euros. The nationwide loans are “only” at 388,220 (2021) and 370,670 (2022) for the dream of owning. The Hamburg loan amounts remain the highest in the country.

Hamburg is also particularly expensive. And the banks willingly gave the loans during the low-interest phase. “The tide turned over the course of the last year,” says Frank Loesche, a specialist in construction financing at Dr. Small. Mortgage financing was suddenly no longer as affordable as it used to be, and interest rates had quadrupled in some cases.

Buying a home: nowhere else are loans so high

Loesche: “Interested parties tried to borrow less money from the bank – and to contribute even more equity than before.” In addition, the banks have also become more restrictive over the past year. They paid much more attention to what interested parties can afford – and what not.

At the same time, the prices for apartments and houses were still very high for almost the whole of 2022, and the turning point only came at the turn of the year. It is true that asking prices fell more significantly in the last quarter of the year. Despite the noticeable price correction of up to ten percent, most of them are still well above the level of 2021, according to Immoscout, for example.

You might also be interested in: Hamburg’s new school for 80 million euros with an exciting focus

Despite price slumps in 2022, condominiums were still 3.5 percent more expensive than in 2021, houses 2.7 percent (existing) and 7.3 percent (new construction). So it still takes a lot of money to finance a property.