- While in eleven of the 21 cities analyzed the number of completed apartments will decrease in 2021 compared to the previous year, building permits will even decrease in 15 of the 21 localities.
- While between 2017 and 2021 the most apartments will be completed in Frankfurt am Main with 29.2 apartments per 1,000 inhabitants, Duisburg will have the least number of completions with 6.1 apartments per 1,000 inhabitants
- From 2017 to 2021, the housing stock will grow the most in Frankfurt am Main with 5.9%, in Munich with 5.3% and in Münster and Hamburg with 5% each, while in Duisburg it will be 1.2%. Bochum with 1.6%. and Essen with 1.9% less developed
The year 2022 will continue to bring down the curves of building approvals and completions significantly and to intensify the bottleneck of the real estate market. Because the end of the year brought rising mortgage interest rates, tougher financing requirements, soaring construction costs, supply chain issues, new energy needs for buildings, and a shortage of craftsmen.
Von Poll’s real estate experts analyzed the situation in the 21 largest German cities in terms of building permits and completions for the years 2017 to 2021 and also compared new construction projects from this period with the housing stock.
“A look into 2021 shows that in eleven of the 21 locations analysed, the number of completed apartments has decreased compared to the previous year. These include major cities such as Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Cologne and Leipzig, where the population has grown disproportionately in recent years. In 2021, building permits will even be reduced in 15 of the 21 cities A and B,” says Daniel Ritter, managing partner of Von Poll Immobilien.
Frankfurt am Main is growing fastest, in terms of width and height
The majority of flats were completed in Frankfurt am Main in the period 2017 to 2021 with 29.2 per 1,000 inhabitants. The number of approved apartments was 37.1. Munich, Hamburg and Münster follow the main metropolis with 27.8, 25.7 and 25.1 completed apartments respectively. In terms of building permits, Munich leads the analysis with 38.7 apartments per 1,000 inhabitants. While Münster recorded 32.4 permits in the survey period, Hamburg had 29.9 apartments per 1,000 inhabitants.
Fewest new buildings in Duisburg and Bochum
The least completions for apartments were instead in Duisburg with 6.1 and in Bochum with 8.2 per 1,000 inhabitants. Duisburg is also lagging behind in terms of permits. Between 2017 and 2021, only 7.7 apartments per 1,000 inhabitants were approved here. In Bochum the number was 13.9 approved apartments.
Furthermore, in Essen, Karlsruhe, Cologne, Hanover, Dortmund, Stuttgart and Bremen only between ten and 15 flats per 1,000 inhabitants could be completed. With the exception of Hanover, these locations also end up in the lower end of the league table with between ten and 16 building permits. Hanover, on the other hand, had 19 approved apartments per 1,000 inhabitants between 2017 and 2021.
In Düsseldorf, Bonn, Berlin and Dresden, between 20 and 25 apartments per 1,000 inhabitants were completed. In terms of building permits, Berlin with 30.3 apartments and Dresden with 32.4 apartments are among the top six cities with more than 30 building permits per 1,000 inhabitants between 2017 and 2021. Düsseldorf with 26.3 and Bonn with 17.8 Approved apartments, on the other hand, are located in the center of the localities analysed.
Completions in relation to housing stock
It is also interesting to observe the ratio of completions to housing stock in the respective city up to 2021. Frankfurt am Main is again in the lead, where the housing stock grew by 5.9% to 377,989 apartments in the period 2017 to 2021. Munich, with 5.3% to 778,720 apartments, and Münster and Hamburg, with 5% to 157,031 apartments and 953,137 apartments respectively, are among the places with the strongest growth in living area. “The special feature of Frankfurt am Main is, among other things, the strong development of residential high-rise buildings, which is not found in any other German metropolis to this extent. The city grows in width and in height. There are 413 apartments in the 172-metre-high Grand Tower alone and 600 apartments in the Ensemble Four skyscraper, to name just two examples of the lively construction activity and neighborhood development in and around Frankfurt over the past five years.
The top four locations in this ranking are followed by Bonn with growth of 4.4% to 162,885 apartments, Berlin and Dresden with 4.3% to 1,938,034 apartments and 300,985 apartments respectively. In contrast, the housing stock in Düsseldorf, Mannheim, Leipzig, Nuremberg and Wiesbaden will grow between 3% and 4% between 2017 and 2021.
The housing stock reached its lowest level during the analysis period in Duisburg with only 1.2% to 249,971 apartments, Bochum with 1.6% to 190,921 apartments and Essen with 1.9% to 305,634 apartments. Even in Hanover, Karlsruhe, Cologne, Dortmund, Stuttgart and Bremen, living space will only grow by 2% to 3% between 2017 and 2021.
